Boat Model

Boat Model

Egypt. Eleventh Dynasty, ca. 2134-1991 B.C. Painted wood. Lent by the Semitic Museum, Harvard University. L1999.25.2
In the First Intermediate Period, tombs decorated with wall reliefs depicting the activities of daily life, needed to sustain the deceased, were no longer being built. Instead, wooden models, representing the same activities shown on Old Kingdom tomb walls, were placed in the burial chamber with the coffin.

This model is of a boat, possibly either a hunting boat, or a warship, judging from the shields that are shown placed along the cabin roof. As boats were the main form of transportation up and down the Nile Valley, they were an important part of the equipment needed to continue one's daily existence in the next world.

The exhibition of this object is made possible by the Museum Loan Network - a national collection-sharing program funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, and administered by MIT's Office of the Arts.

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