Wall Tile from a Royal Funerary Structure

ca. 2675–2625 B.C.E.

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Object Label

Blue-green glazed rectangular tiles like these once decorated the walls of subterranean rooms beneath King Djoser’s Step Pyramid. As the first example of monumental stone architecture in Egypt, Djoser’s funerary complex was meant to provide the king’s spirit with an abode for eternity. The tiles imitated the hangings of reeds lashed together by horizontal cords that decorated palace walls during this king’s lifetime.

Caption

Wall Tile from a Royal Funerary Structure, ca. 2675–2625 B.C.E.. Faience, 2 5/16 × 1 3/8 × 9/16 in. (5.8 × 3.5 × 1.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 34.1180d. Creative Commons-BY

Title

Wall Tile from a Royal Funerary Structure

Date

ca. 2675–2625 B.C.E.

Dynasty

Dynasty 3

Period

Early Old Kingdom

Geography

Place made: Saqqara, Egypt

Medium

Faience

Classification

Tiles

Dimensions

2 5/16 × 1 3/8 × 9/16 in. (5.8 × 3.5 × 1.4 cm)

Credit Line

Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number

34.1180d

Rights

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.

Frequent Art Questions

  • Could you tell me how faience was made?

    Faience is a man-made mixture of "ground quartz or quartz-sand held together by and alkaline binder. The bright and shiny surface seen on this figurine is a result of glazing. The glaze was made of a form of powdered glass mixed with a liquid and applied either with a brush or by dipping the entire figurine.
    It gets it's blue color from copper that is mixed into or applied to the surface of the quartz body before firing.

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