Model Food Offering of Bound Gazelle
ca. 1479–1292 B.C.E.
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Object Label
Model Food Offerings
Over time, new subjects came to be depicted within the tradition of displaying models of food offerings.
New Kingdom Egyptians continued the Middle Kingdom tradition of leaving smallscale replicas of food as funerary offerings in tombs. Although some types were known earlier—such as the trussed duck and miniature vessels—a new subject was the gazelle. As desert dwellers, gazelles symbolized the chaos that existed in the sterile lands flanking the Nile Valley. Bound gazelles therefore represented the desire for eternal control over chaos.
Over time, new subjects came to be depicted within the tradition of displaying models of food offerings.
New Kingdom Egyptians continued the Middle Kingdom tradition of leaving smallscale replicas of food as funerary offerings in tombs. Although some types were known earlier—such as the trussed duck and miniature vessels—a new subject was the gazelle. As desert dwellers, gazelles symbolized the chaos that existed in the sterile lands flanking the Nile Valley. Bound gazelles therefore represented the desire for eternal control over chaos.
Caption
Model Food Offering of Bound Gazelle, ca. 1479–1292 B.C.E.. Steatite, 1 11/16 x 2 3/8 in. (4.3 x 6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 51.2. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
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