One of the world's three truly great collections of ancient Egyptian art has been used as the basis of this new introduction to the civilization of Egypt from the pre-dynastic period through to the Coptic era. During this period--a span of more than four thousand years--Egyptian craftsmen developed and used a wide range of sophisticated techniques to produce artworks of dazzling quality. Although operating within a series of rigid conventions, their work displays a level of creativity--and even audacity--that remains unmatched. The authors, all of whom are leading Egyptologists and curators of major museums, have selected one hundred and thirty of the most significant pieces from within the Louvre's collection to illustrate and accompany this survey of the development of art in ancient Egypt. These pieces, all of which are fully illustrated in newly-commissioned color photographs, range from familiar masterpieces to little-known artifacts. Together they present a chronological survey of Egyptian art and the civilization that created it, from the supremely elegant stone and ivory-work of the Naqada I period (ca. 3900 BC) through the golden age of dynastic Egypt's statuary and painting to the flowering of Coptic art (100-600 AD).