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Model rocker

Maker Egyptian

DateNew Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1550–1298 B.C.E.

GeographyEgypt, Africa

MediumWood

Dimensionsoverall (approx.): 1 3/4 in. x 3 3/4 in. x 8 1/4 in. (4.4 cm x 9.5 cm x 21 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Egypt Exploration Fund

Object number1907.4

Status

On view

RightsCopyright is retained in accordance with U.S. Copyright laws

Photo creditDavis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

More Information

Object Label

Model rockers, like this one, have been found in caches in the foundation of ancient Egyptian structures. They are replicas of the full-sized versions, which were used to lift heavy building materials.

Object Label

Most of the earliest accessioned items in the Davis Museum’s collections are ancient sculptures and decorative arts from Greece, Rome, Assyria, and Egypt. Direct study from original works of art was an important component of the “Wellesley Method” of teaching art history and informed the first collecting practices on campus. Many of the Egyptian works in this case came from the Egypt Exploration Fund, a London-based organization founded in 1882 to finance archaeological digs. Wellesley College was among the over thirty-five institutions in the United States that subscribed to the fund and in return received dispersals of excavated artifacts. The EEF objects at the Davis were unearthed in excavations that were undertaken between 1886 and 1915. The ancient collections continued to grow through generous gifts by alumnae, such as Edythe Shulman (Class of 1932), the owner and director of Origins Gallery in Boston, which specialized in ancient and tribal art in the 1960s and ’70s.