EOE-Right relief from Metjetji's tomb

Right relief from the tomb of Metjetji

Date: about 2371-2350 B.C. (Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, reign of Unas)
Medium: painted limestone
Provenance: Sakkara, Egypt; probably west of the Step Pyramid of Djoser (area explored earlier by Firth [Ziegler, Age of Pyramids 408]).
Relief accession number: 52-7/2
Dimensions: height 56 1/4”, width 30 1/2”

Condition: excellent. Damage to faces of children.

Description. The mirror image of 52-7/1 except a daughter stands behind Metjetji; furthermore, a painted bracelet on his left wrist and aba-scepter (see Stela of Seankhy and Ankhu) in his left hand are extant. Many of the hieroglyphs differ.

Hieroglyphs. The translations are C. Ziegler’s (Age of Pyramids 413).

The horizontal inscription: “[As for those who built me this tomb, I paid them], after they had performed the work here with the copper that was an endowment from my personal property. I gave them clothes and provided their nourishment with the bread and beer from my personal property, and they praised God for me because of it. Director of the Office of Tenants of the Palace, Metjetji.”
The vertical inscription before Metjetji’s staff: “Royal noble, Director of the Office of Tenants of the Palace, Metjetji, so called.” (Note that Metjetji means “one straightforward, honest.”)
The vertical inscription above his son: “His eldest son whom he loves, Khuensobek.”
The vertical inscription above his daughter: “His daughter whom he loves, Iret-sobek.”

Placement of reliefs. The size of the relief and the use of sunken relief places this sculpture on the jambs of the entrance to Metjetji’s tomb, with this relief on our right and 52-7/1 on our left (see Left relief from the tomb of Metjetji). The reliefs from the facade are in Berlin, Toronto, and Paris (see below).

Chronology. For dating see Wooden statue of Metjetji.

Additional reliefs and paintings from tomb of Metjetji.

Sunken reliefs: (a) Metjetji and son, from architrave of facade, Louvre, Paris, E25681; (b) Metjetji and son, from left side of facade of mastaba, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 953.116.1; (c) Metjetji and son, from right side of facade of mastaba, Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin, 5/1970; (d) false door, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 64.100 (Ziegler, Age of Pyramids 408-11; 414-5; Kaplony 25).
Raised reliefs: (a) bird hunting, Abegg-Stiftung, Bern, 12.39.67; (b) inspection of granary and treasury, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 55-6-2;
c) harvesting and donkeys, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 953.116.2 (Ziegler, Age of Pyramids 415-6; Kaplony 9-11, 21).
Wall paintings: inspection of farm and workshops, playing music, playing at game-board, bringing of offerings, funerary rites; Louvre, Paris, E 25512-3, 25521-2, 25524, 25535, 25537-8 (Ziegler, Age of Pyramids 416-7).

Published: Handbook 1959, 15; Handbook 1973, 24; Peter Kaplony, Studien zum Grab des Methethi (Riggisberg: Abegg-Stiftung Bern, 1976), 26-31; Alessandro Roccati, La littérature historique sous l’Ancien Empire égyptien (Paris: 1982), 145; Handbook 1993, 111; Christiane Ziegler, “La tombe de Métchétchi,” in L’art égyptien 318-9; Christiane Ziegler, “The Tomb of Metjetji,” in Age of Pyramids 408-17 (see especially 410-1).

(RC)