The collection of pieces from Ancient Egypt in the Eva Klabin Foundation consists of some fifty items brought together by this collector, together with other archeological items from different cultures and periods.

Not an archeologist, but guided by art specialists, she concentrated on acquiring significant objets d’art from all periods of Egyptian history for her Egyptian Collection. These pieces do not come from official archeological excavations and consequently their exact place of origin is unknown.

This Collection consists of items that are unique in Brazil, due to their quality and rarity. Outstanding among the large pharaonic statuary is the head of a Pharaoh in a nemes headdress, worn only by the sovereign when in contact with the Gods or the World of the Dead.

The funerary items include a coffin mask with encrusted eyes dating back to the XVII Dynasty (c.1550-1307 BC) as well as several other items that bear witness to the important role played by animals in Egyptian rituals, such as the coffin of a mummified cat in an excellent state of preservation, dating back to the Ptolemaic Period / Roman  Period (304 BC – 395 AD) in addition to amulets shaped like animals or representing divinities with human bodies and animal heads.

This Collection also includes reliefs and fragments of architectural decoration, such as the lovely temple bas-relief of a goddess with the body of a woman and the head of a lioness, dating back to the III Intermediate Period (c. 1070-909 BC).

Although the Egyptian Collection of the Eva Klabin Foundation ignores certain aspects of Egyptian history such as items in daily use, it is nevertheless a matter of much interest as a source of information on the religious life and beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians.

(Text by Egyptologist Professor Dr. Antônio Brancaglion Júnior, author of the catalog of the Egyptian Collection of the Eva Klabin Foundation).