The art of ancient Egypt that has been handed down to us bears no names ofits creators, and yet we value the creations of these unknown masters noless than the works of later centuries, such as statues by Michelangelo orthe paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. The present volume introduces a seriesof such masterpieces, ranging from the Old Kingdom, or the 3rd millenniumB.C., to the Late Period in the 9th century B.C. The works in question aresculptures, reliefs, sarcophagi, murals, masks, and decorative items, mostof them now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but some occupying places ofhonor as part of the world cultural heritage in museums such as the Louvrein Paris, the British Museum in London, the Egyptian Museum in Berlin andthe Metropolitan Museum in New York. Featured works include: Seated statueof King Djoser, wood relief of Hesire on a dining table, the statue of ascribe made of various materials, funerary relief of Aschait, a Sphinx ofSesostris III, a robed statue of Cherihotep, reliefs from the Temple atCarnac, sarcophagus of Queen Hatshepsut, murals from Thebes, seated figureof the goddess Sachmet, precious statue of Queen Teje, head of Akhenaten(Amenophis IV), Queen Nefertiti, golden mask of Tutankhamun, Ramses IIfrom Abu Simbel, Horus-falcon made of granite, stone relief on the templeambulatory at Edfu. Each book in TASCHEN's "Basic Genre" series features:a detailed introduction with approximately 35 photographs, plus a timelineof the most important events (political, cultural, scientific, etc.) thattook place during the time period; and a selection of the most importantworks of the epoch; each is presented on a 2-page spread with a full-pageimage and, on the facing page, a description/interpretation of the workand brief biography of the artist as well as additional information suchas a reference work, portrait of the artist, and/or citations