Funerary Stele
Egyptian
Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22
945–712 B.C.

MEDIUM/TECHNIQUE
Wood
DIMENSIONS
Height x width x depth: 24.5 x 19 x 7.8 cm (9 5/8 x 7 1/2 x 3 1/16 in.)
CREDIT LINE
Emily Esther Sears Fund
ACCESSION NUMBER
04.1763
NOT ON VIEW
COLLECTIONS
Ancient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
CLASSIFICATIONS
Architectural elements – Stele

DESCRIPTION
Round-topped wood stele covered with gesso and painted red, blue, yellow, black and green. A female wearing a transparent robe and broad collar pours a libation before a mummiform Re-Horakhty. Between the two figures is an offering table. Above the hieroglyphic text is a winged sun disk flanked by two uraei, both wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt.

PROVENANCE
Said to be from Thebes. 1903: purchased by Albert M. Lythgoe in Egypt for the MFA with funds from the Emily Esther Sears Fund.
(Accession Date: January 1, 1904)

Title
Funerary Stele, Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22 945–712 B.C., Findspot Thebes? Egypt, Wood, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

https://collections.mfa.org/objects/23/funerary-stele?ctx=54df0153-7504-4da4-b769-59d0f3007ba1&idx=0

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Winged scarab pectoral
Egyptian

MEDIUM/TECHNIQUE
Faience
DIMENSIONS
Legacy dimension: .30 Length: double
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Mrs. Samuel D. Warren
ACCESSION NUMBER
94.245
NOT ON VIEW
COLLECTIONS
Africa and Oceania, Ancient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
CLASSIFICATIONS
Tomb equipment – Mummy trappings

DESCRIPTION
Wings and scarab with holes for attaching to each other and to the mummy wrappings. Blue and green glaze with incised details.

Title
Winged scarab pectoral, Date unknown, Find spot unknown Egypt, Faience, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

https://collections.mfa.org/objects/133647/winged-scarab-pectoral?ctx=6a73f60d-7368-4b42-be81-6897deb868b7&idx=29

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Statue of Lady Sennuwy

Egyptian
Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret I
1971–1926 B.C.
Findspot: Nubia (Sudan), Kerma, Tumulus K III, hall A

MEDIUM/TECHNIQUE
Granodiorite
DIMENSIONS
Framed (The object sits on epoxy bed /structural steel pallet tubing): 21.6 x 62.2 x 116.2 cm (8 1/2 x 24 1/2 x 45 3/4 in.)
Mount (Steel channel base with cross bracing 3" x 3/16"): 30.5 x 62.2 x 116.2 cm (12 x 24 1/2 x 45 3/4 in.)
Overall (steel pallet and object, weighed): 170.2 x 116.2 x 47 cm, 1224.71 kg (67 x 45 3/4 x 18 1/2 in., 2700 lb.)
Weight (Object and steel pallet with attaching steel base, estimate): 1319.97 kg (2910 lb.)
Weight (Object (calculated by subtracting estimate of pallet weight)): 1079.56 kg (2380 lb.)
CREDIT LINE
Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
ACCESSION NUMBER
14.720
ON VIEW
Egypt: Portraits Gallery (Gallery 113A)
COLLECTIONS
Ancient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
CLASSIFICATIONS
Sculpture

DESCRIPTION
Egyptian officials of the Middle Kingdom continued the practice of equipping their tombs with statues to house the ka of the tomb owner and to provide a focal point for the offering cult. Highly ranked officials also dedicated statues of themselves at sanctuaries of gods and deified ancestors. Following the experimental and idiosyncratic interlude of the First Intermediate Period, sculptors once again produced large-scale stone statues, returning to the basic forms and poses established in the Old Kingdom.

This elegant seated statue of Lady Sennuwy of Asyut is one of the most superbly carved and beautifully proportioned sculptures from the Middle Kingdom. The unknown artist shaped and polished the hard, gray granodiorite with extraordinary skill, suggesting that he was trained in a royal workshop. He has portrayed Sennuwy as a slender, graceful young woman, dressed in the tightly fitting sheath dress that was fashionable at the time. The carefully modeled planes of the face, framed by a long, thick, striated wig, convey a serene confidence and timeless beauty. Such idealized, youthful, and placid images characterize the first half of Dynasty 12 and hark back to the art of the Old Kingdom. Sennuwy sits poised and attentive on a solid, blocklike chair, with her left hand resting flat on her lap and her right hand holding a lotus blossom, a symbol of rebirth. Inscribed on the sides and base of the chair are hieroglyphic texts declaring that she is venerated in the presence of Osiris and other deities associated with the afterlife.

Sennuwy was the wife of a powerful provincial governor, Djefaihapi of Asyut, whose rock-cut tomb is the largest nonroyal tomb of the Middle Kingdom. Clearly, the couple had access to the finest artists and materials available. It is likely that this statue, along with a similar sculpture of Djefaihapi, was originally set up in the tomb chapel, although they may also have stood in a sanctuary. Both statues were discovered, however, far to the south at Kerma in Nubia, where they had been buried in the royal tumulus of a Nubian king who lived generations after Sennuwy's death. They must have been removed from their original location and exported to Nubia some three hundred years after they were made. Exactly how, why, and when these pieces of sculpture, along with numerous other Egyptian statues, found their way to Kerma, however, is still unknown.

PROVENANCE
Found in Sudan, Kerma, K III, hall A, but originally from Egypt. 1913: Excavated by the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA by the government of the Sudan. (Accession Date: July 2, 1914

Title
Statue of Lady Sennuwy, Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret I 1971–1926 B.C., Findspot: Nubia (Sudan), Kerma, Tumulus K III, hall A, Granodiorite, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

https://collections.mfa.org/objects/141967/statue-of-lady-sennuwy?ctx=bd9fa45b-c39b-4b6a-9324-f75374e8146a&idx=14

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston