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Relief of the Theban Divine Family

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

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

The relief on the right depicts the God's Wife of Amun Amunirdis I ,making an offering of Ma'at to the god Amun-Re. Behind Amun-Re stands Khonsu, his son by his chief consort Mut. These three divinities comprise the divine family of the Theban region.

The relief on the left shows Amun-Re and Mut. Because the two scenes are comparable though reversed, it seems likely that Amun-Re and Mut faced another God's Wife of Amun. The shallow sunk relief and the treatment of the faces are typical of Twenty-fifth Dynasty reliefs found on the small chapels in Thebes.

CULTURE Egyptian
MEDIUM Sandstone
  • Possible Place Collected: Thebes (Karnak), Egypt
  • DATES ca. 710–670 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY late Dynasty 25
    PERIOD Third Intermediate Period
    DIMENSIONS 28 9/16 x 27 3/16 x 2 3/16 in. (72.5 x 69 x 5.5 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 87.184.1
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Fragmentary sandstone slab with decoration in sunk relief. To the right is the partially preserved figure of a woman. She is accompanied by the labels s3t-nsw (erased) and drt-ntr (Imnirds). The traces in the deliberately erased cartouche are those of the name Kashta, which makes the woman the GWA Amunirdes I. She faces right to offer an image of Maat to a seated figure of Amun-Re and a standing mummiform figure of Khonsu-in-Thebes-Neferhotep. The former is accompanied by utterances and the epithets nswt-ntrw ntr ‘3 nb pt. Condition: Rear half of Anumirdes’s figure missing. Rear and lower parts of figure of Khonsu are missing. Numerous chips and gouges and encrustations. Some refinishing of surface with a tan pigment.
    CAPTION Egyptian. Relief of the Theban Divine Family, ca. 710–670 B.C.E. Sandstone, 28 9/16 x 27 3/16 x 2 3/16 in. (72.5 x 69 x 5.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 87.184.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 87.184.1_87.184.2_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE 87.184.1_87.184.2_SL1.jpg.
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