Beneath the wings of Horus the Behdetite, a manifestation of the solar god often found on stelae, or commemorative tablets, Irethoreru, at the right, makes an offering to the god of the underworld, Osiris, and his wife, Isis. The different shades of the stone have been successfully exploited for aesthetic purposes. Though the style of the representations is drawn from earlier periods, textual details suggest a Twenty-fifth Dynasty date.
Catalogue Description:
Black syennite (?) funerary stela of i’r.t-hr-i’r.w set up by his wife i’n-imn-n3y-nb.w. Above, in sunk relief, winged sun disk below which deceased makes offerings to Osiris and Isis. Eight lines of text.
Condition: Excellent. Small fragment missing from left edge - otherwise perfect. Excellent workmanship. Dating: Style is archaistic imitating Middle Kingdom work. Dating given above based on style of (Gardiner U 24) in line 5. Form used here adopted from the hieratic and suggests type used in Persian times but the stela may be slightly earlier. Earliest possible date would be the XXVth Dynasty.
Names:
Text: Text has many inaccuracies with some signs facing in wrong direction. For copy with translation see notes in files under “Egyptian Collections.” Fairty conventional text of usual “Offering formula” type followed by long list of titles of deceased and his relations. Among his titles is “Overseer of the gardens and of every gold statue of all temples of Upper and Lower Egypt, and Nubia also”.
