Slab Stela of Prince Wep-em-nefret. Giza; Fourth Dynasty, reign of Khufu (ca. 25512528 B.C.E.). Limestone; H. 18 in. (45.7 cm). Phoebe Apperson Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California at Berkeley (619825).

This slab is the best preserved of the fourteen surviving stelae, all of which were excavated in Giza's Western Cemetery. Set into the facade of a stone mastaba and surrounded by a mud-brick chapel, the stelae were intended as the focal point of the offering cult. Wep-em-nefret's stela was carefully covered with a slab of stone when a more elaborate stone chapel was added to his funerary complex. The text records Wep-em-nefret's titles but is primarily concerned with listing offerings, including food, incense, unguents, eye paint, and various types of linen cloth.






Pyramid Complexes · Tombs of Officials · Images of Royalty · Images of Officials and Their Families ·  Portraiture · Images of Artisans and Occupations · Objects of Daily Life


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