Trumpeter plays as dancers perform

This limestone fragment was once a part of a full scene that appears to be depicting the king’s procession (almost certainly, king Akhenaten) as he arrived at the temple.

On the far left of the fragment, you can see the elbow and arm of a trumpeter, who blows his horn as women in translucent linens dance with their hands in the air. It is thought these women, based upon appearance, were not Court Ladies. Among the women, on the very far right of the piece, a youth can be seen holding a frond.

The fragment was discovered at Hermopolis (Ashmunein; Khemenu) in Middle Egypt, but almost certainly comes from the ancient city of Akhetaten, modern Tel el-Amarna. After Akhenaten’s experimental Atenist reign came to an end, his recently founded ‘new capital’ city of Egypt was dismantled, and the fragmented limestone blocks were usurped and used for other building projects.

These pieces, showing depicted fragments of Akhenaten’s now lost city, are still being discovered scattered around different archaeological digs, and have been deemed “talatats”.

Talatat is thought to be a word used by Egyptian workman at dig-sites and spread by Egyptologist H. Chevrier. There are however, two possibilities on the word’s ultimate origin in reference to the stones, which may not be contradictory: The name may be derived from the Italian tagliata, which means cut masonry. Alternatively, comes from the Egyptian Arabic term تلاتة (talāta, ‘three’), suggesting that each block is three handspans long.

Summary:

Limestone fragment depicts a trumpeter playing as dancers perform during the king’s procession to temple

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1353–1336 B.C.
From Hermopolis (Ashmunein; Khemenu); originally from Tel el-Amarna (Akhetaten).
Met Museum. 1985.328.11