<em>Funerary Stela of Intef and Senettekh</em>, ca. 2065-2000 B.C.E. Limestone, 11 3/4 x 13 15/16 x 15/16 in. (29.8 x 35.4 x 2.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 54.66. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 54.66_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

Funerary Stela of Intef and Senettekh, ca. 2065-2000 B.C.E. Limestone, 11 3/4 x 13 15/16 x 15/16 in. (29.8 x 35.4 x 2.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 54.66. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 54.66_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Since ancient Egyptians thought animals had souls, were many vegetarians?

There is significant evidence that ancient Egyptians ate meat. The "Stela of Intef and Senettekh" shows a table of offerings which includes multiple types of meat, including cow and goat.

Ancient hypocrisy! Did they have pets as we think of them?

They did indeed. If you look at the same stela, in fact, you will see a dog waiting below the two figures under their chair!

Funerary Stela of Intef and Senettekh

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor

In this stela from their tomb, Intef and his wife Senettekh are shown with an image of their pet dog under their chair. Including such an image was a more common way of memorializing the family pet than mummification.

The two of them sit before an offering table. It is piled high with (from bottom to top) beer jars, round loaves of bread, and animal products. A beef foreleg covers the bread. A bull’s head and a whole duck form the next layer. Green onions and another beef cut lie above that. A dorcas gazelle head, a lettuce leaf, another animal head, and a beef roast with a bone form the top layer. In reality, these offerings would have been mummified and placed in the tomb.

MEDIUM Limestone

Possible Place Collected: Qurnah, Egypt

DATES ca. 2065-2000 B.C.E.

DYNASTY Dynasty 11

PERIOD First Intermediate Period to Middle Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 11 3/4 x 13 15/16 x 15/16 in. (29.8 x 35.4 x 2.4 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 54.66

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Limestone stela of Intef, son of Senbet and his wife Senet-Tek, erected by their son Intef. The steward Imy stands opposite. Intef and his wife seated at left before table of offerings; a dog seated under the woman. Imy stands at right with long staff grasped in right hand. At top, three lines of offering formula. Names incised over each person. Raised relief. Condition: Edges chipped. Surface slightly worn in area of offerings. No trace of color.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Funerary Stela of Intef and Senettekh, ca. 2065-2000 B.C.E. Limestone, 11 3/4 x 13 15/16 x 15/16 in. (29.8 x 35.4 x 2.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 54.66. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 54.66_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 54.66_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 2012

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Since ancient Egyptians thought animals had souls, were many vegetarians?

There is significant evidence that ancient Egyptians ate meat. The "Stela of Intef and Senettekh" shows a table of offerings which includes multiple types of meat, including cow and goat.

Ancient hypocrisy! Did they have pets as we think of them?

They did indeed. If you look at the same stela, in fact, you will see a dog waiting below the two figures under their chair!