Details
1634 in. (42.5 cm.) wide
Provenance
Primitive Art and Antiquities, Christie's, London, 30 April-1 May 1974, lot 354.
Antiquities, Sotheby's, London, 14 July 1975, lot
112a.
Antiquities, Bonhams, London, 15 October 2008, lot 11.
Literature
W. K. Simpson, “A Tomb Chapel Relief of the Reign of Amunemhet III and Some Observations on the Length of the Reign of Sesostris III,” Chronique d’Égypte: Bulletin périodique de la Fondation égyptologique Reine Elisabeth 47, 1972, pp. 45–54.
W. K. Simpson, “The Middle Kingdom in Egypt: Some Recent Acquisitions,” Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 72, 1974, pp. 100–116. (for Boston 1971.403)
S. D’Auria, P. Lacovara, and C. H. Roehrig, eds.. Mummies & Magic: The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt, Boston, 1988, p. 122 and 123, no. 4.
D. Franke, “Anchu, der Gefolgsmann des Prinzen (Grabrelief Boston MFA 1971.403).” In Miscellanea Aegyptologica. Wolfgang Helck zum 75. Geburtstag, edited by H. Altenmüller and R. Germer, Hamburg 1989, pp. 67–87.
W. Grajetzki, Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, London, 2009, pp. 86-88 and fig. 38 (illustrating this fragment adjoining the Boston relief).
P. Clayton, "Ancient Egypt," in M. Merrony, ed., Mougins Museum of Classical Art, Mougins, 2011, p. 36, fig. 4.
Exhibited
Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins, 2011 - 2023 (Inv. no. MMoCA35).
Brought to you by
Olivia WilsonCataloguer and Sale Coordinator
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Lot Essay

Depicting a series of offering bearers facing to the right, beneath a raised area of hieroglyphic inscription carved in vertical columns, this fragment has been identified as joining to the lower part of the tomb relief of an official named Ankhu (Museum of Fine Arts Boston 1971.403). The anonymous offering bearer on the far right carries a tray of food offerings which is continued on the larger Boston fragment, while he is followed on this fragment by a man holding a sealed jar and a large piece of meat. The third figure in the procession carries a papyrus plant and holds a tray of offerings including a plucked duck or goose, a calf’s head, and bread loaves. Although the Boston relief is said to be from the Fayum district, this official is also known from a statue found at Aswan, and Simpson argued that these reliefs might derive from a tomb located in that region. Ankhu’s main title was “Overseer of Fields,” and his tomb biography on the relief in Boston indicates that earlier in his career he had been a scribe at a temple of Senwosret III of the 12th Dynasty. His relatively high status is underscored by the fact that his mother Merestekh was styled “member of the elite” and “sister of a king.”

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