Skip Navigation

Stela of Djefi and Ankhenes-ites

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

This stela combines several elements in one stela. Djefi and his wife Ankhenes-ites stand before an offering table that bears the hieroglyphic sign for the word “field,” the source of food offerings. The inscription on the right is the offering prayer promising them bread and beer in the afterlife. The inscription continues with a sentence normally found in a tomb biography: “I am beloved of my father and praised of my mother every day.” Thus, Djefi and Ankhenes-ites have combined in one stela the offering table, the inspection scene, and biography elements that would have been separate in a more elite tomb.
MEDIUM Limestone, pigment
  • Place Collected: Girga, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 2170–2008 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 7 to Dynasty 11
    PERIOD First Intermediate Period
    DIMENSIONS 16 x 21 1/2 x 3 3/4 in., 59 lb. (40.6 x 54.6 x 9.5 cm, 26.76kg) dimensions when mounted: 16 × 21 × 4 1/2 in. (40.6 × 53.3 × 11.4 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 69.74.1
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Roughly rectangular limestone stela representing a couple Djefi and his wife Ankhenesites, facing right, with lines of inscriptions, containing a common offering formula and the man’s name, Dfj, as well as the woman’s, Ankh-sit-es. They both face right with left feet advanced, both wearing wigs, her left arm is clasped around his torso, right at her side, he holds a long staff in his left hand and a shorter raised staff? in the right Inscriptions: Before the male figure: Im;hy Dfi Before the figure of Djefi: Htp (di) ns’w ‘Inpw tpy dw.f imy-wt t; Dsr prt-hrw t hnkt n im;hy Dfi dd.(f) ink mry n it.f hsy n mwt.f f’ nb. “A boon which the King gives (and which) Anubis (gives) (Anubis) on top of his mountain, He who is in the Imy-wet, the Lord of the Necropolis, invocation offerings consisting of bread and bear to the revered one Djefi; (he) says “I am beloved of my father and praised of my mother every day”. Before the figure of the woman: hmt.f mrr.f ? ns’w ‘Ang.s-n-it.s. Condition: Remains of color on figures and hieroglyphs. Uneven background is somewhat rough. Chips missing on edges all around. Small damages on chest and kilt of male figure and on right arm of female figure. UV examination shows possible repair to areas in front of kilt of male figure, tip of kilt and left knee.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Stela of Djefi and Ankhenes-ites, ca. 2170–2008 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 16 x 21 1/2 x 3 3/4 in., 59 lb. (40.6 x 54.6 x 9.5 cm, 26.76kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 69.74.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 69.74.1_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 69.74.1_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
    "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.