1965.28.M, Relief: procession of offering bearers, from the tomb of Ny-Ankh-Nesut, Egyptian, late 5th-6th Dynasty, c. 2300 B.C.E, painted limestone

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

This carved and painted limestone relief originally decorated a wall in the tomb of Ny-Ank-Nesut, who is believed to have been an important court official, possibly a high priest of Ra (Re) during the late 5th or early 6th Dynasty Egypt. The artist conformed to the classic Egyptian convention for depicting the human form by combining the frontal and profile views of the eight male servants wearing short kilts. A group of servant figures move from left to right carrying offerings for the departed, including loaves of bread, cakes, geese, papyrus leaves, bowls of lotus flowers, a hedgehog in a cage, vessels of beer, and other things that would magically come to life upon Ny-Ank-Nesut's resurrection. Many other reliefs from his tomb are displayed in American museums, notably the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Offering scenes like this one reflect the Egyptian idea that the dead person lived in the afterworld much as a priest or noble did in life. In effect, the work of art is a form of pictorial magic, supplying items necessary in the afterlife for the tomb's owner. Soon after the entombment, relatives of the dead person might leave food offerings, and in later years, priests might also leave such offerings, but when it was immortalized by art in scenes like this one, the food supply would last for eternity.

The magical nature of this handsome scene explains its hieroglyphic purity of form. Each person or object is modeled with extreme clarity of form and outline, as if the procession were a text to be read. The basic conventions of Egyptian art, as they developed during the Old Kingdom, fused written symbols and pictorial form. The whole of Nyankhnesut's tomb was a house for the dead person, and each of its elements ensured a luxurious way of life in the afterworld.

Adapted from

Anne Bromberg, "Procession of offering bearers," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 19.
Anne Bromberg, Label text [1965,28.M], Egyptian Gallery, January 2003.
Roslyn A. Walker, The Arts of Africa at the Dallas Museum of Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009), cat. 60, 180-181.

NOTES

added Gods Men Heroes, Guide to the collections (both 1997 and 2012), and Arts of Africa essays as text entries

updated provenance and culture (Egyptian)

Notes from visit of 24 April 1987 with Arielle Kozloff and Carlos Picon: "Arielle said that Old Kingdom relief fragments existed in many museums, including the Cleveland Museum, as the tomb had been destroyed around WWII. This example is not one of the best preserved and was not carved by one of the most skilled sculptors in the tomb, but she would keep it on display as the sole example of this type of work.

The Tomb of Nyankhnesut (Re)discovered by Anthony Leahy and Ian Mathieson in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 87 (2001), pp. 33-42 discusses the remains of this tomb after looters removed most of the pictorial reliefs.

Catalogue essays

Munger Fund

Egypt: Royalty and the Afterlife

Egyptian funerary relief

Artist/designers

Cultures

The ancient Egyptians

Ancient Egyptian beliefs

Geography

Process/materials

Historical periods

Ancient Egyptian historical periods

Egyptian Chronology

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

Before 1965: Elie Borowski, Basel, Switzerland

From 1965: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association purchase, Munger Fund, purchased from above [1]

[1] The Dallas Arts Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

AUDIO ASSETS

13314420: UMO; Listen to a lecture by curator Dr. Anne Bromberg entitled, "Saqqara: Early Monumental Arts in Egypt."
13311364: UMO; Listen to a lecture by curator Dr. Anne Bromberg of the DMA given in conjunction with Searching for Ancient Egypt: Art, Architecture, and Artifacts from the University of Pennsylvania Museum, September 28, 1997-February 1, 1998 entitled, "Archaeology and Ancient Egypt."

VIDEO ASSETS

12934203: UMO; Watch a video of curator Dr. Anne Bromberg discussing the concept of death and burials in Egypt and other cultures; in conjunction with King Tutankhamun exhibition, 2008.

IMAGE ASSETS

WEB RESOURCES

Cleveland Museum of Art~See another relief from the tomb of Ny-Ankh-Nesut.

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS

Nearly 60 reliefs from the Saqqara tomb of Ny-ankh-Nesut are dispersed in some eighteen museums and private collections around the world.

TEACHING IDEAS

RULES

Apply to objects where number equals 1965.28.M

General Description

This carved and painted limestone relief originally decorated a wall in the tomb of Ny-Ank-Nesut, who is believed to have been an important court official, possibly a high priest of Ra (Re) during the late 5th or early 6th Dynasty Egypt. The artist conformed to the classic Egyptian convention for depicting the human form by combining the frontal and profile views of the eight male servants wearing short kilts. A group of servant figures move from left to right carrying offerings for the departed, including loaves of bread, cakes, geese, papyrus leaves, bowls of lotus flowers, a hedgehog in a cage, vessels of beer, and other things that would magically come to life upon Ny-Ank-Nesut's resurrection. Many other reliefs from his tomb are displayed in American museums, notably the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Offering scenes like this one reflect the Egyptian idea that the dead person lived in the afterworld much as a priest or noble did in life. In effect, the work of art is a form of pictorial magic, supplying items necessary in the afterlife for the tomb's owner. Soon after the entombment, relatives of the dead person might leave food offerings, and in later years, priests might also leave such offerings, but when it was immortalized by art in scenes like this one, the food supply would last for eternity.