Skip Navigation

Boat-Building Scene

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

Some boat-building scenes are known from the New and Middle Kingdoms. Nevertheless, this relief finds its best parallels In Old Kingdom works, that is, in works done before circa 2200 B.C. Unlike those earlier compositions, however, this scene is strongly based on curving lines, such as the unusually exaggerated pose of the man swinging an adze. The workmen's faces are related both to Old Kingdom figures and to faces such as those on the Hatshepsut temple relief in this vitrine.

MEDIUM Limestone, pigment
  • Possible Place Collected: Thebes, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 664-634 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY early Dynasty 26
    PERIOD Late Period
    DIMENSIONS 7 5/8 x 10 5/8 in. (19.4 x 27 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 51.14
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Painted limestone tomb relief. Subject, in raised relief, men building a boat. Only left half of boat preserved. Kneeling man at left with adze seems to be cutting roped which had maintained curvature during construction; another at right, also kneeling works on hull with mallet and chisel. Four other incomplete figures of men. Colors; white, background and kilts, red, bodies and details of ropes; yellow, ropes, tools and edge of boat. Condition: Incomplete. Upper and lower right corners missing. Minute cracks throughout stone. Bulk of paint is preserved.
    CAPTION Boat-Building Scene, ca. 664-634 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 7 5/8 x 10 5/8 in. (19.4 x 27 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 51.14. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.51.14_NegB_print_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.51.14_NegB_print_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2015
    "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.