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Grave Stele of Sebekhotep

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Grave Stele of Sebekhotep
Limestone, ochre and red painted countersunk relief, as a ca. 28 mm thick plate
apparently only in recent times sawed off from the rear part, some fractures repaired
Height appx. 267 mm, width appx. 112 mm
Middle Kingdom, XIII dynasty ca. 1750 BC
Provenance: Charles Ede, 1977, private collection Austria

The stele, rounded at the top, is an example of the religious needs of wealthy families during the period of the decline of the empire towards the end of the XII. century. Dynasty. The format of the Stele is extraordinarily narrow. The four-line inscription under Shen-ring and Udjat eyes consists of a standard sacrificial formula: A gift the king offered to Ptah-Sokar-Osiris: May they make an invocation offering consisting of bread, beer, beef, poultry, alabaster vessels (with oil), linen, incense and ointment for the soul of the Wab priest of the Chapel of Souls, Sebekhotep, the Righteous.

Below, on the left, the owner of the stele, Sebekhotep, is depicted and on the right, a man whom the vertical inscription identifies as the ‘judge and mouth of Nechen', Hedjery. Their relationship is not indicated, Hedjery may be a son of Sebekhotep. The stele was demonstrably decorated by the same artist as seven other steles and also two statues. These two persons are also known from other monuments, namely from one stele each in Cairo, in the British Museum in London and in Philadelphia. Another stele in Cairo and one in Berlin belong to the same group.

The origin of one of the steles in Cairo is documented: Lord Carnavon and Howard Carter discovered it in the necropolis of Asasîf in Thebes (1907-1911). It is therefore a real funerary stele, and not a so-called Abydos stele. These are inscription stones that were erected in great numbers at this place of worship and pilgrimage of the god Osiris: most of the other stelae of the Middle Kingdom originate from there.

Expert: Dr. Helmut Satzinger, Professor of Egyptology, University of Vienna
Former Keeper of 'The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection', Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Literature: Marcel Marée, "An Artist, a Priest and their Clients in Late 13th Dynasty Thebes",
British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 15, 2010.

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25 Apr 2020
Austria, Vienna
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[ translate ]

Grave Stele of Sebekhotep
Limestone, ochre and red painted countersunk relief, as a ca. 28 mm thick plate
apparently only in recent times sawed off from the rear part, some fractures repaired
Height appx. 267 mm, width appx. 112 mm
Middle Kingdom, XIII dynasty ca. 1750 BC
Provenance: Charles Ede, 1977, private collection Austria

The stele, rounded at the top, is an example of the religious needs of wealthy families during the period of the decline of the empire towards the end of the XII. century. Dynasty. The format of the Stele is extraordinarily narrow. The four-line inscription under Shen-ring and Udjat eyes consists of a standard sacrificial formula: A gift the king offered to Ptah-Sokar-Osiris: May they make an invocation offering consisting of bread, beer, beef, poultry, alabaster vessels (with oil), linen, incense and ointment for the soul of the Wab priest of the Chapel of Souls, Sebekhotep, the Righteous.

Below, on the left, the owner of the stele, Sebekhotep, is depicted and on the right, a man whom the vertical inscription identifies as the ‘judge and mouth of Nechen', Hedjery. Their relationship is not indicated, Hedjery may be a son of Sebekhotep. The stele was demonstrably decorated by the same artist as seven other steles and also two statues. These two persons are also known from other monuments, namely from one stele each in Cairo, in the British Museum in London and in Philadelphia. Another stele in Cairo and one in Berlin belong to the same group.

The origin of one of the steles in Cairo is documented: Lord Carnavon and Howard Carter discovered it in the necropolis of Asasîf in Thebes (1907-1911). It is therefore a real funerary stele, and not a so-called Abydos stele. These are inscription stones that were erected in great numbers at this place of worship and pilgrimage of the god Osiris: most of the other stelae of the Middle Kingdom originate from there.

Expert: Dr. Helmut Satzinger, Professor of Egyptology, University of Vienna
Former Keeper of 'The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection', Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Literature: Marcel Marée, "An Artist, a Priest and their Clients in Late 13th Dynasty Thebes",
British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 15, 2010.

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Estimate
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Time, Location
25 Apr 2020
Austria, Vienna
Auction House
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