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Fragment Mentioning Offerings

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
More than one-fifth of the over seven hundred ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic signs represent animals or parts of animals.

Scribes used animal images in hieroglyphs to represent sounds as well as the animal itself. Here, the image of a duck fledgling in the upper left section of the relief represents the word for “pellet,” referring to a piece of incense. The sound tja was found in the two words for “duck fledgling” and “pellet” in the ancient Egyptian language, making this hieroglyph the convention for representing that sound.
MEDIUM Limestone, pigment
  • Place Excavated: Lahun, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1844–1835 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 12
    PERIOD Middle Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 11 1/4 x 17 x 3 3/4 in., 42 lb. (28.6 x 43.2 x 9.5 cm, 19.05kg)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 14.667
    CREDIT LINE Museum Collection Fund
    PROVENANCE Funerary Temple, Pyramid of Sesostris II, Lahun, Egypt; 1913-14, excavated by the British School of Archaeology; 1914, purchased from the British School of Archaeology by the Brooklyn Museum.
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    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Fragmentary limestone relief consisting of three columns of hieroglyphs above which is a register decorated with five-pointed stars. Condition: Edges chipped; central portion badly damaged; apparently destroyed deliberately in antiquity, as a succession of chisel marks is clearly visible from top to bottom. Extreme hardness of the stone prevented the shattering of the entire surface. Extensive remains of color.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
    CAPTION Fragment Mentioning Offerings, ca. 1844–1835 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 11 1/4 x 17 x 3 3/4 in., 42 lb. (28.6 x 43.2 x 9.5 cm, 19.05kg). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 14.667. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.14.667_erg2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.14.667_erg2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 11/26/2007
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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