Relief of an Acacia Tree Shading Water Jars with Drinking Cups

Middle Kingdom

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 104

In this picturesque image of water jars beneath an acacia tree, each jar for ready use topped by a drinking cup, there may be hidden allusions to beliefs about the afterlife. In the Old Kingdom, an institution called “the acacia house” was maintained at the solar cult site of Heliopolis (near present day Cairo). To this institution belonged a group of women who served as mourners and ritual dancers at each pharaoh’s funeral. Queen Neferu may have been a member of Mentuhotep II’s acacia house.

For other reliefs of Neferu, see 26.3.353* and 31.3.1.

Relief of an Acacia Tree Shading Water Jars with Drinking Cups, Limestone, paint

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.