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Model Food Offering of Bound Gazelle

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
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.
MEDIUM Steatite
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1479–1292 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 18
    PERIOD New Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 1 11/16 x 2 3/8 in. (4.3 x 6 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 51.2
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
    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. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.51.2_erg456.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.51.2_erg456.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 9/6/2007
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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