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Heqanakht's account, written over an effaced letter regarding two female servants

Middle Kingdom
ca. 1956–1953 B.C
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 107
Heqanakht was a native of Thebes (present day Luxor) during the early Dynasty 12. Letters and accounts written by Heqanakht and one or more scribes on sheets of papyrus were discovered by Museum excavator Herbert E. Winlock in one of the rock cut tomb complexes along the cliff overlooking the temples at Deir el-Bahri. The documents - some still folded, tied and sealed, when found - provide unique insights into the domestic and financial affairs of an average middle class family that lived almost four thousand years ago.　

In this papyrus, Heqanakht wrote an account of flax and grain, which he sealed with the mud sealing (2018.595.2) whose impression matches that on another letter by him in our collection (22.3.518). However, he was not the first to use this sheet of papyrus. Traces of ink reveal an effaced letter from a man named Intef to a steward by the name of Ineswisetekh regarding copper and two female servants.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Heqanakht's account, written over an effaced letter regarding two female servants
  • Period: Middle Kingdom
  • Dynasty: early Dynasty 12
  • Reign: reign of Senwosret I
  • Date: ca. 1956–1953 B.C
  • Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb of Ipy (TT 315, MMA 516B)
  • Medium: Papyrus, ink
  • Dimensions: H. 28.1 × W. 9.1 cm (11 1/16 × 3 9/16 in.)
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Winifred Kate Purches, 2018
  • Object Number: 2018.595.1
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Sealing with Scarab Impressions from Heqanakht's Letters, Mud, string
Sealing with Scarab Impressions from Heqanakht's Letters
ca. 1956–1953 B.C
A Maiden and a Bearded Man, Black ink; brush applied on handmade wove type paper, coarse with shive, flax furnish soft sized
A Maiden and a Bearded Man
ca. 1700
Relief showing Khety’s hand, with a graffito of Ramesside date, Limestone, paint
Relief showing Khety’s hand, with a graffito of Ramesside date
ca. 2051–2000 B.C.
Heqanakht Account VI, Papyrus, ink
Heqanakht Account VI
ca. 1961–1917 B.C.
Buckler, Iron, pigskin, brass, wood, fiber (flax), linen, British, Wrexham, Wales
Buckler
British, Wrexham, Wales
ca. 1500

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