Model Sailing Boat with Mummy

Model Sailing Boat with Mummy

Period: Middle Kingdom

Dynasty: Dynasty 12

Reign: Amenemhat II, late

Date: ca. 1900–1885 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Memphite Region, Lisht South, Mastaba B (Djehuty), South Area, between mastaba and south enclosure wall, MMA 1930–1931

Medium: Wood, paint

Dimensions: L. 80.6 cm (31 3/4 in.); W. 21.2 cm (8 3/8 in.); H. to top of mast 54 cm (21 1/4 in.) Beam L. 23 cm (9 1/16 in.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1932

Accession Number: 32.1.124a

 

 A group of sailors standing by the mast hoists the sail (not preserved) for this boat which carries a mummy on a bier under a baldaquin. The mummy is tended by two women - perhaps impersonating the goddesses Isis and Nephthys - while a priest reads from a papyrus scroll. Four men sit crouched before the mast and baldaquin. Their posture is akin to the so-called "block statues" or "cube statues," well known from Middle Kingdom art. It has been argued that this posture indicates the person so represented is partaking in rituals. The steersman and another person at the side of the bier crouch in a similar position, although each of them has one arm free for action.

 

Met Museum

 

 

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