The back of this wooden chair, which belonged to the scribe Reniseneb, is handsomely veneered with ivory and embellished with incised decoration showing the owner seated on a chair of identical form. It is the earliest surviving chair with such a representation, and it is the only non-royal example known. The scene and accompanying text have funerary import and may have been added following Renyseneb's death to make the chair a more suitable funerary object. The high quality of its joinery and the harmony of its proportions testify to the skill of ancient Egyptian carpenters. The mesh seat has been restored following ancient models.

• Provenance

  Purchased from Ernst E. Kofler, Lucerne, 1968.
  
  

• Timeline of Art History (2000–present)
  Timelines

  Egypt, 2000–1000 B.C.
• MetPublications
  "The Daily Life of the Ancient Egyptians": The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 31, no. 3 (Spring, 1973) (1973)

  Egyptian Studies III: Varia Nova (1996)

  Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh (2005)

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (1994)