The Art of Ancient Egypt | Publications for Educators | Explore & Learn

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Stela of a Middle Kingdom official
Abydos, Dynasty 12, ca. 1954 B.C.
Painted limestone, 41 x 19 5 /8 in.
Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1912
12.184

This rectangular stone slab, called a stela, honors an official named Mentuwoser (men-too-WAHS-er). Clasping a folded piece of linen in his left hand, he sits at his funeral banquet in a scene that ensures he will always receive food offerings and that his family will honor and remember him forever. To the right of Mentuwoser his son summons his spirit. His daughter holds a lotus and his father offers a covered dish of food and a jug that, given its shape, contained beer.

In order to show clearly each kind of food being offered, the carver arranged the images on top of the table vertically. The feast consists of round and conical loaves of bread, ribs and a hindquarter of beef, a squash, onions in a basket, a lotus blossom, and leeks.

The raised relief carving is very fine. The background was cut away only about one eighth of an inch. Within the firm clear outlines of the relief the sculptor subtly modeled the muscles of Mentuwoser's arms and legs, the shape of his jaw and cheeks, and the forms of the chair legs and the calf's head.

The hieroglyphic inscriptions in sunk relief state that this stela was presented by the king Senwosret I, in the seventeenth year of his reign, to Mentuwoser in appreciation of his loyal services. Mentuwoser's deeds are described at length. He was steward, granary official, and overseer of all manner of domestic animals, including pigs. He shows himself as a good man by claiming to have looked after the poor and to have buried the dead. Look at the hieroglyphs at the right end of the top line. The vertical hieroglyph with a curved top is the sign for "year," the inverted U shape is the sign for "ten," and the seven vertical lines make the total seventeen. Senwosret's throne name, Kheper-Ka-Re, appears within a cartouche in the middle of the top line.

The stela was erected in the sacred temple precinct of Osiris. Mentuwoser hoped that, through his image and the prayers on the stela, he would enjoy rebirth and sustenance at the annual festivals honoring Osiris.

Notice: hieroglyphs, costume, material, scale, perspective

Discuss: what the figures are doing, scale, poses, relief techniques, gender colors, royal names, vertical perspective

Compare: West wall from a chapel built by Sety I for his father, Ramesses I; Nikare and his family; and Menna and his family fishing and fowling

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