Queen Tuya Leads a Procession
Royal Ontario Museum. 955.79.2
Queen Tuya (Mut-Tuya) was the wife of Seti I and the mother of Ramesses II, later remembered as Ramesses the Great. Born outside the immediate royal family, she was the daughter of Raia, a lieutenant of the chariotry, and Ruia, yet rose to occupy one of the most distinguished positions at the Ramesside court.
Under her son she bore such exalted titles as Great King’s Mother, God’s Wife and Great Royal Wife; the latter apparently bestowed upon her posthumously. Tuya lived well into Ramesses II’s long reign and probably died in or after his 22nd regnal year, around 1258 B.C. She was laid to rest in QV80 in the Valley of the Queens, and her importance was further honoured by a small temple beside the Ramesseum, dedicated jointly to Tuya and Ramesses’s celebrated queen, Nefertari.
In this limestone relief, three figures approach a deity now lost from the relief, perhaps the goddess Hathor. Leading the little procession is Queen Tuya, wife of Seti I and mother of Ramesses II, carrying a bouquet of flowers and an incense burner. Upon her head rests the royal vulture headdress, crowned by a modius.
Behind her comes her son-in-law Tjia, identified as Royal Scribe and Overseer of the Treasury of the Lord of the Two Lands. Bouquet in hand, he raises his other arm in reverent adoration. Last is his wife, also named Tjia, described as Mistress of the House, Songstress of Amun, Great of Strength and the King’s Noble Sister. A lotus droops gracefully over her wig as she carries flowers and shakes a sistrum in worship.
Though only a fragment survives, the scene preserves something of the colour and ceremony of elite Ramesside devotion: incense, music and flowers accompanying the worshippers as they advance towards the unseen god.
Now at the Vatican Museum
Summary:
Queen Tuya, Mother of Ramesses II and Great Royal Wife of Seti I, Leads a Procession
New Kingdom, reign of Ramesses II, 19th Dynasty, c. 1279–1213 B.C.
Carved Limestone Fragment, probably from the Tomb of Tjia, Saqqara, Egypt
Now at the Royal Ontario Museum, 955.79.2
