Skip Navigation

Offering Table of Neferka

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
Hetjer’s offering table has two depressions to hold liquid and a representation of Hetjer sitting before hieroglyphs that specify his desire for “a thousand of bread . . . of beer . . . of cattle and fowl.” Neferka’s offering table has one depression and representations of what may be a round loaf of bread and a copper pitcher in a basin seen from above. Such offerings were placed on the floors of tomb chapels to hold real food and liquids or, alternatively, to provide them magically through carved images and prayers.
MEDIUM Limestone
  • Reportedly From: Saqqara, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 2500-2170 B.C.E.
    PERIOD Old Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 2 15/16 × 7 5/8 × 10 1/2 in. (7.5 × 19.3 × 26.7 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.1496E
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Limestone offering table belonging to (according to Dr. Federn) Neferka, Captain of the Royal Barge, and Scribe of the Marines. Viewed from the top the table is rectangular. There are two depressions in the top surface. The smaller one is rectangular in outline with a tapering depression. The larger depression is rectangular but for the projection from one of the sides of a representation from one of the sides of a representation, in relief, of a loaf of bread (part of the sign “htp”). Within the depression are two representations, in relief, of round loaves of bread. The four sides are vertical for a short distance (1.5 cm.) down from the top surface and then taper in to the flat base. There is an inscription, in sunk hieroglyphs, around the outer edge of the upper surface. Condition: The whole surface is worn. There are many chips and flaking in spots. On the bottom there is brown incrustation. “A boon which the king gives, and a boon which Anubis in front of the divine booth (gives): (namely) a burial in the west after a very good old age (to) the possessor of reverence by the Great God, the Capitan of the Royal Barge, the Scribe of the Marines. Neferka; the King’s Acquaintance, the possessor of reverence by the Great God, (Neferka).”
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
    CAPTION Offering Table of Neferka, ca. 2500-2170 B.C.E. Limestone, 2 15/16 × 7 5/8 × 10 1/2 in. (7.5 × 19.3 × 26.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1496E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.37.1496E_erg2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.37.1496E_erg2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 10/16/2007
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    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.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.