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Yuny and His Wife Renenutet

New Kingdom, Ramesside
ca. 1294–1279 B.C.
Not on view
These figures represent Yuny seated next to his wife Renenutet. Yuny, who lived in the city of Asyut, was a chief royal scribe and holder of many other offices, perhaps including that of physician. Additional inscriptions on the base of the statue further elaborate Yuny's responsibilities. On the center fold of Yuny's pleated skirt is an inscription that reads: "May everything that comes forth upon the offering table of [the god] . . . and all pure food that comes forth from the Great Enclosure [the temple complex at Heliopolis] be for the chief scribe, royal scribe of letters, Yuny, justified."

Renenutet affectionately places her right arm around her husband's shoulders. On the back of the statue she is described as a singer of Amun-Re. In her left hand, she holds by its metal counterweight a heavy bead necklace called a menat. Menat necklaces were ritual implements that were held in the hands and shaken like cymbals, especially in the service of the goddess Hathor, but also when entering the presence of other deities..

Appropriate to their high secular and religious positions, Yuny and Renenutet wear the elaborate wigs and fine linen attire fashionable in their time. Renenutet is adorned with a lotus fillet and a necklace called a broad collar. The beads are in the shape of nefer hieroglyphs (meaning "good" or "beautiful"), offering vases, and floral petals. Traces of black remain on the wigs. The couple sit together on a bench with elegantly carved lion-paw feet.

On the back of the chair in both sunken and raised relief are two scenes illustrating the ancient Egyptian ideal of affection and remembrance among family generations. In the upper register, Yuny and Renenutet receive offerings from their son; in the lower, Renenutet offers food and drink to her parents.

Another statue depicting Yuny by himself is on display in gallery 130.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Yuny and His Wife Renenutet
  • Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 19
  • Reign: reign of Seti I
  • Date: ca. 1294–1279 B.C.
  • Geography: From Egypt, Middle Egypt, Asyut (Assiut, Siut; Lykopolis), Tomb of Amenhotep, Necropolis Cliff tomb, Medjdeni, Khashaba excavations, 1913
  • Medium: Limestone, paint
  • Dimensions: H. 84.5 × W. 54.5 × D. 73 cm (33 1/4 × 21 7/16 × 28 3/4 in.)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1915
  • Object Number: 15.2.1
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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Cover Image for 3465. Yuny and His Wife Renenutet

3465. Yuny and His Wife Renenutet

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In this stunning pair statue, a lady named Renenutet lays her right arm around her husband, Yuny. In her left hand, she holds a ritual object called a menat. It is shaped like a necklace—and could be worn like one—with an elongated handle and multiple strings of tiny beads. During temple services Renenutet would have shaken this instrument to produce a gentle rattling sound. She is barefoot, but richly attired. Look at the detailed collar around her neck. It is composed of tiny flowers, petals, and the hieroglyphic emblem for nefer, or perfection.

Yuny was a chief royal scribe and chief priest, and it is fitting to his station that he appears here seated with his wife on a fine lion-legged couch. Both figures wear the thin linen clothes and fashionable wigs that artists of the late post-Amarna period reveled in depicting. The pleats in Yuny’s garment are especially intricate. Through a number of such details, the statue suggests that he is the more important of the two. For example, he wears a pair of soft sandals.

Walk around to the back of the statue, and look at the relief carving you see there. In the upper register, Yuny and Renenutet sit behind an offering table with a man making a libation in front of them. He could be their son, but unfortunately his name has been destroyed. In the lower register, Renenutet stands second from the left, followed by a maidservant named Hathor who carries a mirror. The couple behind the offering table in this lower image is Renenutet’s parents, the royal scribe and keeper of stores Metiay and the house mistress Yia. This seems to indicate that it was Renenutet, not her husband, who commissioned this pair statue.

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