Details

LOT 0021

Egyptian Wooden Stela for Pa-di-Amun-(em)-ipat with Ra-Horakhty

LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.

17 3/4 in. (1.96 kg, 45 cm high).

Arch-topped and composed of two vertical boards, coated with gesso and skilfully painted on one side; the lunette decorated with a winged sun-disc and two pendant uraei; the central vignette depicting the deceased worshipping the falcon-headed god Ra-Horakhty with the Four Sons of Horus standing behind, each with their name written above; the lower register with six lines of hieroglyphic text providing an offering formula for the benefit of the deceased:

Transliteration of the hieroglyphs:

1) ḥtp-dı-͗nsw rꜤ-ḥr-Ꜣḫtı͗nṯr Ꜥ nb pt
sḥḏ [.....] wsır͗ ẖntt [ım͗ntt?]
2) nṯr Ꜥ nb Ꜣbḏw dı⸗͗f pr.t-ḫrw t ḥnḳt
kꜢ Ꜣpd [....] ḫt nb(t) (n) fr(t) wꜢbt […]
3) ḫt nbt nḏm dı⸗͗f ḥtpw ḏfꜢw [...]f ḫꜢ
m t dı⸗͗f ḫꜢ m
4) ḥnḳt dı⸗͗f ẖꜢ ır͗p [...] dı⸗͗f ḫꜢ m ı͗[...]
dı⸗͗f ḫꜢ ı(͗Ꜣ)r(r)t dı⸗͗f
5) m snṯr ḥr ḫꜢwt [...] ḳrs nfr ḥr ım͗nt
nfr
6) n [..] wsır͗ [......] pꜢ-dı-͗ım͗n(m) ıp͗ Ꜣ.t
ms (n) ḫꜢ [....]

Translation:

1) An offering that the king and Ra-Horakhty, Great God, Lord of Heaven, the illuminated [...] Osiris Foremost [of the West?]
2) Great God, Lord of Abydos (that) he may give a voice-offering (of) bread, beer, oxen, and fowl […] everything good and pure […]
3) everything sweet, he gives offerings of provisions […] a thousand of bread, he gives a thousand of
4) beer, he gives a thousand of wine […], he gives a thousand of vines, he gives a thousand of
5) incense on the altar […] a good burial in the beautiful West
6) for […] the Osiris[…] Pa-di-Amun-(em)-ipat born (to) Kha[…];

on the verso, an old handwritten collection label reading: 'From Harding & Sm[ith] Collection Sale Sotheby 2 Nov 1922 L.N. 234. A families[sic] stele, arched top, with the deceased worshipping a standing Horus attended by the four Children of Horus and six horizontal lines of inscription in colour. SP/10a'; mounted in a custom-made wooden frame.

Provenance

From the collection of the late W. Harding Smith (1848-1922).
with Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 34 & 35 New Bond Street, 2 November 1922, no.234.
Old handwritten label to verso reading 'From ‘....’ ‘....’ collection Sale Sotheby 2 Nov 1922 L.N.234...'

Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
Accompanied by a copy of the 1922 Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge catalogue pages.

Literature

Cf. Munro, P., Die spätägyptischen Totenstelen, 2 vols., Ägyptologische Forschungen 52, Glückstadt, 1973, vol.2, pl.3, fig.12, for a stela with similar format; for an example with a three-line border see British Museum EA22919; or with a plain, single-coloured band with thin outer and inner delimiting lines see Cairo Museum A9444.