Relief depicting the performance of funerary rituals

Middle Kingdom

ca. 2010–2000 B.C. or ca. 2000–1981 B.C.

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 107

This beautifully carved and painted relief block comes from the inner chapel of the tomb of the vizier Dagi at Thebes. The figures depicted here participate in Dagi's funeral rites. At the right, the upper body and arms of a butcher are preserved; behind him a lector priest performs an offering ritual. The partially preserved inscription reads: "[A gift which the king] gives (consisting of) thousands (of loaves of) bread, thousands (of jars of) beer, thousands of cattle and fowl for the ka (life-force) of the member of the elite Dagi.”

The name of the lector priest, Tetiemsaf (“Teti is his protection”), which refers to deified monarch of the Old Kingdom (Dynasty 6, ca. 2350 B.C.), establishes a remarkable link with the pyramids and pyramid cities in the north. This scene would have been in the top register of the wall, at the left edge, as indicated by the band of colored rectangles at the top and side of the block.

Artwork Details

Overview

Translation

Provenance

References

Title: Relief depicting the performance of funerary rituals
Period: Middle Kingdom
Dynasty: Dynasty 11
Reign: late reign of Mentuhotep II or later
Date: ca. 2010–2000 B.C. or ca. 2000–1981 B.C.
Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, Tomb of Dagi (TT 103, MMA 807), MMA excavations, 1911–12
Medium: Limestone, pigment
Dimensions: L. 89.2 × H. 38.5 cm (35 1/8 × 15 3/16 in.)
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1912
Object Number: 12.180.242
Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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