Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Stela of the Overseer of Priests Iki
Middle Kingdom
Not on view
This object is not part of The Met collection. It was in the Museum for a special exhibition and has been returned to the lender.
In the upper register, Iki and his wife Renesankh listen as the musician Neferhotep performs a Harper’s Song, a funerary hymn describing how the deceased’s tomb was "built for festivity . . . founded for goodness." During the Middle Kingdom, such compositions stressed protection and comfort for the deceased. Although here shown in a funerary context, musical recitals were also certainly a pleasurable activity enjoyed by the elite. Below, Iki and his family receive funerary offerings.
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