Relief fragment from the top of Dagi’s “false door”

Middle Kingdom

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

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 107

A stylized depiction of a door was very often represented, either carved in two dimensions or sculpted in three, on the western wall of ancient Egyptian tomb chapels to allow the deceased symbolically to leave the coffin in the tomb chamber below and enter the chapel so that he or she could receive offerings. In the Middle and New Kingdoms, such “false doors” were often set into the representation of a shrine that was framed by a torus molding with a cavetto cornice on top. Here we see part of such a cornice with, at the very left, the edge of the khekher frieze that bordered the offering scene that once lay to the side of this "false door." This fragment from the tomb of the vizier Dagi most likely comes from the west wall of his inner chapel.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: Relief fragment from the top of Dagi’s “false door”
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, paint
Dimensions: L. 96.5 × W. 30 cm (38 × 11 13/16 in.)
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1912
Object Number: 12.180.250
Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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