The Louvre (Part 3) Antiquities and Royal Chambers

So I was pretty tired after the Renaissance paintings, but I love Egyptian artifacts so much I knew I wanted to see them. I had to go through some other rooms to get to them, so I looked at some more sculptures on the way. Out the window there was this roof to the underground area that was sensuous and curved.

There were some lovely sculptures from Roman and Greek times.

The palace rooms around the sculptures were full blown baroque.

Here's a better look at one of the ceilings.

There is a mosaic tile floor in one of the antiquities rooms, but it was closed on the day I visited. This mosaic was hung on the wall in a frame.

I was interested in looking at female figures in the antiquities sections.

Here's an old familiar face! I actually was sorry that the Winged Victory of Samothrace had been taken out for restoration. That had been the thing that influenced me the most the last time I had visited the Louvre. It was so commanding standing at the top of the main stairway.

The face of this woman is so poignant. I wonder what it was about.

The Egyptian artifacts were less moving, but many had a simple and moving elegance to them.

These monkey and cat figures were small but still stunning.

These were gold figures that were extremely tiny (except for the ram in the middle).

Here is a close up. The little figures are at most an inch long.

I truly appreciate the abstract and minimalist qualities of the Egyptian sculpture. There is such grace to these baboons and to the large ox heads below.

There was room after room of Egyptian material.

I did not see any actual human mummies (I'm wondering if it is an issue of dignity for the dead), but there were sarcophagi.

Here are a few canonic jars.

There was a small room devoted to mummified animals, especially cats.

This golden ram was again very simple and elegant and actually quite large more than 3 feet long.

I ended up in the Greek vases, so I once again looked for images of women. I didn't see any of the infamous satyr vases. Iguess they are out the public view.

There was a long hall of royal  items in a lovely big baroque hall.

Here is a royal crown. (I doubt I've ever seen anything quite so tacky - I don't even think I could get away with wearing that!)

Here is a shot of the hall front he other direction.

By this time I was exhausted, so it was time to go to the cafe and have some lunch/dinner. (It was after 4:00 PM but I was there on a day when the museum would be open late (which was good because I still hadn't had a chance to look at the more modern stuff.)

I had a lovely sandwich with marinated tomatoes and a piece of cheesecake for dessert.

Best of all I got to sit for a while and rest my blistered and over-tired feet. Then it was off to the last section of the museum that I wanted to see.