relief

This relief carries a depiction of the funerary offering in a naive kind of sunk relief, still with most of its colours preserved. A standing couple is shown receiving an ox leg from a man standing opposite. In front of the pair is an offering table laden with gifts, and next to the woman some toilet articles are depicted. The father Kheti [Akhtúy] and his son Montu-hetepu [Menthútpe] are depicted with short hair, without wigs, as well as collars and short kilts. The woman is called Henet; she is wearing a dress suspended by two shoulder straps. Upon the offering table are the following items: a wild goose, a closed ceramic jug, a bunch of grapes, a calf's head, an unidentified white object with white stripes, a round cake, a bunch of spring onions, a flat dish with figs, and a gherkin covered by a palm leaf. Beneath the table a closed jar and a plate on a stand are shown. The toilet articles of the woman consist of a mirror in a slip case and a box with an eye-paint container and a jar of ointment. The entire scene has been overlaid with a grid according to the classical canon of proportions, which divides the standing human figure into eighteen hand widths between the soles of the feet and the brow. The stela dates to the early Middle Kingdom, when this version of the canon had only recently been introduced.

KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM

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