LOT 0012

Egyptian Limestone Relief with Hieroglyphic List of Funerary Offerings

OLD KINGDOM, CIRCA 2513-2190 B.C.

14 1/2 in. (10.85 kg, 37 cm high).

Dressed panel with reserved rectangular border to upper edge with ochre and terracotta pigment; left edge with reserved rectangle and column of hieroglyphs picked out with pigment; the left edge with a reserved rectangle and column of hieroglyphs picked out with pigment giving the titles of the deceased: ı͗ry-pꜤt ḥꜢty-Ꜥ nb, 'member of the elite, foremost of action, and lord'; to the right, a tabulated list of offerings with the quantities for each indicated beneath.

Acquired in the mid-1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12199-222171.

See Fluck, C. & Helmecke, G., Burial Practice, in Fluck et al., Egypt: Faith After the Pharaohs, London, 2015, for discussion; cf. Murray, M.A., Saqqara Mastabas Part I, ERA 10, London, 1904, pl.XXIX, for a similar arrangement of a vertical column of inscription with larger hieroglyphs in the left frame next to the offering list in the 5th Dynasty tomb of User-netjer.

The majority of preserved Old Kingdom offerings lists come from tombs at Saqqara or other parts of the Memphite necropolis and were intended to ensure that the deceased would be sustainably provided for eternally. During the 4th Dynasty, around 165 different offerings could be listed for the deceased, but by the 5th Dynasty, almost half of these had disappeared while some new ones were added. Even then, these lists could include around a hundred offerings. Although non-consumable items such as eye paint and cloth are sometimes listed, most offerings are different kinds of food, such as bread, wine, grain, and fruit.