Relief Fragment with Part of a Hieroglyph

Meketre was a high official whose career began under Pharaoh Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II (ca. 2051-2000 B.C.), the Dynasty 11 Egyptian ruler who brought political stability to the country after a period of disunity. His reign ushered in the flowering of Egyptian culture that we now call the Middle Kingdom. Meketre served succeeding Dynasty 11 kings, and likely died early in the reign of Amenemhat I, founder of Dynasty 12 (ca. 1981-1952 B.C.). The offices held by Meketre during his long and illustrious career included chief royal steward and royal treasurer.

The tomb of Meketre was cut into a cliff face on the West Bank of Thebes, overlooking the valley in the bay behind Sheikh Abd el-Qurna. A steep inclined court led up from the desert floor. Two openings marked the tomb façade, which originally had a pillared portico: the entrance on the right provided access to Meketre’s burial place, while the one on the left belonged to Intef, likely his son. Meketre’s tomb consisted of a 19 m long corridor that led to a squarish chamber with a statue niche at the back, all cut from the rock. Access to Meketre’s burial place was through a shaft in the floor of the chamber.

Exploration of his tomb was first undertaken by Georges Daressy in 1895 and Georges Mond in 1902; the main excavation was conducted in 1919-20 by a team of Egyptologists from the Metropolitan Museum headed by Herbert Winlock. Their most spectacular discovery was a set of twenty-four tomb models placed in a chamber cut into the corridor that depict activities surrounding the provisioning of Meketre’s tomb and the rituals intended to guarantee his successful transition to the afterlife. In the division of finds between the Egyptian Antiquities Service and the Metropolitan Museum, half of the models went to the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, and half came to New York.

During the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, the tombs of high officials were decorated with elaborate scenes, and Meketre’s monument was no exception. Because the tomb was cut into soft rock, the corridors were lined with better-quality limestone, which was subsequently covered with exquisitely carved and painted low relief. Unfortunately, ancient stone robbers quarried away the blocks, forcing us to reconstruct the decorative program from masses of chips and a few larger pieces. Based on the number of recovered fragments and the size of the tomb, it is unlikely that it was completely decorated. Rather, the wall relief may have been confined to the chamber at the back of the tomb and perhaps the area directly in front of it. Subjects found on the fragments include: parts of large figures presumably representing Meketre and members of his family, inscriptions listing his titles and epithets, musicians, offering bearers, food offerings, offering lists, vessels for sacred oils in different shapes, ritual objects, cattle, the slaughter of food animals, and geometric designs from the tops and corners of walls.

Excavated by the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1920. Acquired by the Museum in the division of finds, 1920.