In addition to carving scenes in reliefs on the walls of important tombs, Egyptians of the late Old Kingdom and early Middle Kingdom began to leave groups of miniature sculptures, or models, with the deceased. Such groups usually included one or more boats. The models in this gallery, all from the tomb of Meketre at Thebes, are by far the most artistic of any ever found.

The two green-hulled boats you see here imitate ancient funerary boats, made from papyrus stalks, with two rudders for steering. It’s possible that these boats carry Meketre on the ritual voyage to Abydos, a city sacred to the god Osiris, lord of the afterworld. Or he could be on his way to the next world. The makers of these funerary objects often left deliberately vague the distinction between this world and the next. Look at the boat on the right. That’s Meketre seated under the canopy. But here, it’s a statue of Meketre who’s depicted, not the living man. A group of priests huddle in front of him, performing a ritual called the "Opening of the Mouth," allowing his spirit, residing in the statue, to speak and breathe.

Meketre would have had a variety of needs in the afterlife, and the other boats in this case provided for some of them. To the right, there’s a kitchen boat, where servants bake bread. In the boat at the far right, you can see Meketre relaxing as he listens to a singer and harper. At the far left of the case is a sporting boat designed for spearing fish and netting wildfowl in the marshes. An enormous fish lying on the deck has the point of a harpoon still fixed in its side.

All of the models in this room were found in 1920 by Herbert E. Winlock, leader of the Museum’s Egyptian Expedition. When the finds from the tomb were divided, half of the models went to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and half came to New York. To hear what Winlock wrote about the discovery, press the green play button.