The missing digit is a major mystery in Met jewelry show (photo by twi-ny/ees)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Met Fifth Ave.
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Daily through February 24, $12-$25
EmptyMet: VIP access February 23, 9:00 am, $50 (includes catalog)
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org
The Met’s “Jewelry: The Body Transformed,” which closes on Sunday, is a treasure trove of luxurious objects dating back more than three thousand years, from necklaces, pendants, and earrings to armbands, combs, and parure, from headdresses, breastplates, and bracelets to brooches, yashmaks, and daggers, divided into five themes: “The Divine Body,” “The Regal Body,” “The Transcendent Body,” “The Alluring Body,” and “The Resplendent Body.” But the biggest mystery you will take away from the gorgeous exhibition is, where are the missing toes? Two pairs of gold sandals from the Tomb of the Three Foreign Wives of Thutmose III, circa 1479-1425 BCE in Thebes, have only nine toe stalls each, the former without the right big toe, the latter sans the right little one. Was the Egyptian pharaoh, who ruled from the age of two to fifty-six, some kind of foot fetishist? And which two of the wives, Menwi, Merti, or Menhet, are a digit short? It’s more than a bit disconcerting, but you’ll probably get over it as you wander through the many other vitrines holding glittering items likely to catch your fancy. But then again, it may haunt you to your dying day.