King Den Smiting of an Eastern Foe

King Den (also written Djer, Udimu, or Den-Setui) was one of the most important rulers of Egypt’s First Dynasty, reigning around c. 2970–2930 B.C. He is remembered as a strong and innovative king who helped shape the early Egyptian state at a time when kingship itself was still taking form.

This small ivory plaque, once served as a label attached to a royal pair of sandals belonging to King Den. Such tags were used for identification and record-keeping, marking valuable objects within the royal household and funerary equipment.

The front of the label carries a finely incised scene of Den smiting an eastern enemy, commemorating a military victory, while the reverse shows a simple engraving of sandals, indicating the object to which it was originally tied.

This label is also known by the name of “MacGregor Plaque”, after the British collector Sir William MacGregor (1848–1937), whose private collection of Egyptian antiquities was one of the largest and most prestigious of its time.

When the collection was auctioned in 1922, scholars and museums already referred to several standout pieces by his name, and the ivory sandal label of King Den became known as “the MacGregor Plaque.”

Den was the first to use the title “King of Upper and Lower Egypt” and the first depicted as wearing the Pschent or the double crown (red and white). Notably, the floor of his tomb at Umm El Qa’ab, near Abydos, was constructed using red and black granite, making it the earliest known use of this hard stone as a building material in Egypt with a flight of stairs leading to it.

Early Dynastic Period, 1st Dynasty, around 3000 BC. Dimensions: height: 4.50 cm, width: 5.30 cm, depth: 0.30 cm, weight: 10 gm. Now in the British Museum. EA 55586