Brooklyn Museum: Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art

Reliefs from the Tomb of the Vizier Nespeqashuty (detail). Egypt, from Deir el Bahri in Thebes, tomb 312. Late Period, Dynasty 26, reign of Psamtik I, circa 664–610 B.C. Limestone, red paint; left section: 30 5/16 x 29 1/8 in. (77 x 74 cm); middle section: 60 5/8 x 184 1/4 (154 x 468 cm); right section: 46 1/16 x 49 5/8 (117 x 126 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.131.1-.32 and 68.1

Nespaqashuty, the vizier of Upper (southern) Egypt early in the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, was one of the two most important officials in the land. He began a large tomb for himself at Thebes, but he died before it was finished. The relief decoration had begun to be carved on blocks of fine limestone that lined the poor stone of the walls. A few of the reliefs were finished, but many had just been carved in outline and others had only been drawn in red. In later centuries, many of the blocks fell or were pulled from the walls and some were burned to make lime. The surviving scenes on these blocks show a row of offering bearers eternally bringing food and other necessities. Above them are scenes of a boat trip to the temple of the god of the dead, Osiris, at Abydos, and groups of male and female mourners at Nespaqashuty's funeral.

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