This model of a slaughter house was discovered in a hidden chamber beside twenty-three other models of boats, gardens, and workshops that led to the royal chief steward Meketre’s rock-cut tomb. Meketre started working for the kings of the 11th Dynasty under King Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II and continued to serve them until the early 12th...
This Ancient Egyptian model boat is almost 4000 years old! It comes from an 11th Dynasty in the Middle Kingdom shaft tomb at Beni Hasan in central Egypt. The tomb belonged to an official called Ja’Y or Tjay – described on his coffin as a Steward or “Controller of the Household”. The wooden boat is...
“The Bersha Procession”, one of 100 wooden models from the tomb of Djehutynakht. This model shows the funerary procession, with offerings of tribute for the deceased. Three women with offerings of food and drink are led by a Priest carrying a wine jug and incense burner. The skill and delicacy with which it was carved...
A painted wooden statuette of a woman carrying offerings. Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, c. 1963-1862 B.C. The Ancient Egyptians believed in physical offerings for spiritual sustenance. Therefore, in funerary scenes depicted upon tomb walls, you will see numerous men and women carrying objects to be buried alongside the deceased. Not only were these items of...
Wooden tomb models were deposited as grave goods in the tombs and burial shafts throughout ancient Egypt since its early history, most notably in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. They included a wide variety of wooden figurines and scenes, such as boats, granaries, baking and brewing scenes and butchery scenes. These served as ways to...
Painted wooden model group: a peasant farmer wearing only a linen kilt, typical dress for a field worker, guides a team of two speckled oxen ploughing who draw a simple wooden plow which would have had a metal blade. He pushes down strongly on the handle and has sunk up to his ankles in the...
These exquisite examples of Egyptian wood carving, depicting women bearing offerings, were discovered in a concealed chamber beside the passage leading into the rock-cut tomb of Meketre, the royal chief steward. These two remarkably similar female figures (Egyptian Museum, Cairo, JE 46725; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 20.3.7) stood flanking a collection of twenty-two intricate models,...
The wooden model of musical entertainment from the tomb of Ka-tenen depicts musicians and singers performing for the master. The master is seated on a carrying chair. A woman is seated on a stool by his feet. A man and a woman, who are positioned on either side of the carrying chair, are playing harps....
The traditional model of a boat depicts the crew sailing upstream. The boat is equipped with a mast, spars, or poles, and a well-preserved linen sail, and rigging and an oar. The models of the 15 members of the crew vary in posture, except for their feet, which are separately modeled in stucco. They are...
This model from Rifah of the “Soul House” type represents a house with a three-columned portico behind a walled courtyard; in front of the courtyard a libation spout is partly preserved. A stairway on the right gives access to the roof of the house, where an arched opening represents a feature in actual houses through...
