Middle Kingdom high officials possessed a variety of luxury goods that were used in life but were also appropriate for a tomb. The box belonged to the royal butler Kemeni, who is depicted on one end making offerings to the deified king Amenemhat IV. It originally contained eight jars, likely filled with sacred oils used in funerary rituals. An official named Reniseneb owned the mirror, which had solar and afterlife symbolism.
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Medium:Cedar, with ebony and ivory veneer and silver mounting
Dimensions:L. 28.5 cm (11 1/4 in.); W. 17.7 cm (6 15/16 in.); H. 20.3 cm (8 in.)
Credit Line:Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926
Object Number:26.7.1438-related
Excavated by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon, 1910; acquired by Lord Carnarvon in the division of finds. Carnarvon Collection purchased by the Museum from Lady Carnarvon, 1926.
Carnarvon, 5th Earl of and Howard Carter 1912. Five Years' Explorations at Thebes: a record of work done 1907–1911. London: Oxford University Press, pp. 6, 54–56, pls. XLVIII–XLIX.
Lythgoe, Albert M. 1927. "The Carnarvon Egyptian Collection." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 22, no. 2 (February), p. 32 (photo).
Winlock, Herbert E. 1935. Private Life of the Ancient Egyptians. New York, fig. 16.
Scott, Nora E. 1944. Home Life of the Ancient Egyptians: A Picture Book. New York: Plantin Press, fig. 13.
Steindorff, Georg 1945. Egypt. New York: J. J. Augustin, p. 81.
Porter, Bertha and Rosalind L.B. Moss 1964. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings: The Theban Necropolis. Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries, vol. I part 2a. Oxford, 619.
Scott, Nora E. 1965. "Our Egyptian Furniture." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, new ser., vol. 24, no. 4 (December), pp. 141, 147, fig. 47.
Baker, Hollis S. 1966. Furniture in the Ancient World: Origins and Evolution, 3100-475 B.C.. New York: Macmillan Co., pp. 143, 147, Fig. 219, 227.
Fischer, Henry G. 1974. "The Mark of a Second Hand on Ancient Egyptian Antiquities." In Metropolitan Museum Journal, 9, p. 34, n. 117.
Fischer, Henry G. 1976. "Archaeological Aspects of Epigraphy and Palaeography." In Ancient Egyptian Epigraphy and Paleography. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 40, fig. 4(3a).
Roehrig, Catharine H. 2015. "Box with Vessels and Mirror." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 141–42, no. 75A, B.
Grajetzki, Wolfram 2015. "The Pharaoh's Subjects: Court and Provinces." In Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 121.
Lilyquist, Christine 2023. "Renseneb's Mask." In Wonderful Things: essays in honor of Nicholas Reeves, pp. 155-165 , fig. 12-16.
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The Met's collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 26,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period.
