Museum Pieces - Tomb relief of Kheti

This relief carries a depiction of the funerary offering in a naive kind of sunk relief, still with most of its colours preserved. A standing couple is shown receiving an ox leg from a man standing opposite. In front of the pair is an offering table laden with gifts, and next to the woman some toilet articles are depicted. The father Kheti [Akhtúy] and his son Montu-hetepu [Menthútpe] are depicted with short hair, without wigs, as well as collars and short kilts. The woman is called Henet; she is wearing a dress suspended by two shoulder straps. Upon the offering table are the following items: a wild goose, a closed ceramic jug, a bunch of grapes, a calf's head, an unidentified white object with white stripes, a round cake, a bunch of spring onions, a flat dish with figs, and a gherkin covered by a palm leaf. Beneath the table a closed jar and a plate on a stand are shown. The toilet articles of the woman consist of a mirror in a slip case and a box with an eye-paint container and a jar of ointment. The entire scene has been overlaid with a grid according to the classical canon of proportions, which divides the standing human figure into eighteen hand widths between the soles of the feet and the brow. The stela dates to the early Middle Kingdom, when this version of the canon had only recently been introduced.

Present location: KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM [09/001] VIENNA
Inventory number: 202
Dating: 11TH DYNASTY (not before); 11TH DYNASTY ?; 12TH DYNASTY (not after)
Archaeological Site: UNKNOWN
Category: RELIEF
Material: LIMESTONE
Technique: HEWN; CARVED
Height: 44 cm
Width: 77.2 cm
Depth: 11 cm

Translation

(1) An offering which the king gives, thousands of bread and beer, meat and poultry, for the Ka of the venerable Kheti, born of Ibi; his wife, whom he loves, Henet, born of Senet true of voice.
(2) His son whom he loves Montu-hetepu, born of Henet.

Bibliography

Satzinger, H., Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. museum (1987) 13.
Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM), Wien. Führer durch die Sammlungen (1988) 24.
Hein, I. & H. Satzinger, Stelen des Mittleren Reiches einschließlich der I. und II. Zwischenzeit, Teil II. Corpus Antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum (CAA).
Satzinger, H., Das Kunsthistorische Museum in Wien. Die Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie 14. Mainz. 1994.
Seipel, W. (ed.), Götter Menschen Pharaonen, Speyer (1993) = Dioses, Hombres, Faraones, Ciudad de México (1993) = Das Vermächtnis der Pharaonen, Zürich (1994).

Sources: http://bilddatenbank.khm.at/viewArtefact?id=317926
               http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/detail.aspx?id=4773