Stela of the Trustworthy Sealer Seneb
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This object is not part of The Met collection. It was in the Museum for a special exhibition and has been returned to the lender.
Organized in six registers, this lively stela belonged to a mid-level official named Seneb. The top register is reserved for protective wedjat eyes and two recumbent jackals representing the funerary deities Wepwawet and Anubis. The remaining registers depict Seneb, his wife, and their extended family members, many arranged neatly in a compartmentalized layout typical of late Middle Kingdom stelae. Ambiguity in ancient Egyptian kinship terminology allows for several possible genealogical reconstructions.
Organized in six registers, this lively stela belonged to a mid-level official named Seneb. The top register is reserved for protective wedjat eyes and two recumbent jackals representing the funerary deities Wepwawet and Anubis. The remaining registers depict Seneb, his wife, and their extended family members, many arranged neatly in a compartmentalized layout typical of late Middle Kingdom stelae. Ambiguity in ancient Egyptian kinship terminology allows for several possible genealogical reconstructions.
Artwork Details
- Title: Stela of the Trustworthy Sealer Seneb
- Period: Middle Kingdom
- Date: ca. 2030-1640 B.C.
- Geography: From Egypt; Possibly from Abydos
- Medium: Limestone
- Dimensions: 31 5/16 × 20 1/16 × 3 15/16 in. (79.5 × 51 × 10 cm)
- Credit Line: Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung
- Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art