Estate Figure
A woman carrying a basket on her head and a duck in her hand: a wooden figure just over 1 meter tall from Meketre's tomb, showing a bearer of estate produce. Full commentary ↓
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Estate Figure is a wooden object by an unknown maker (ca. 1981–1975 B.C.) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the pictureA woman with long black hair, wearing a beaded net dress, walks while steadying a basket on her head with one hand and holding a duck in the other. Her skin is pale yellow, her dress has vertical patterns in green and red, and jewelry is painted at her ankles and wrists. Made of wood coated with gesso and painted, it keeps vivid colors after 4,000 years.
BackgroundSuch female figures represent "offering bearers" who carry grain, meat and fowl from the deceased's estates to the tomb. It was believed that with this figure placed in the tomb, the deceased would be supplied with food forever in the afterlife. It was found in the same tomb of Meketre as the boat models and is counted among the largest and finest sculptures from the tomb.
Puzzle tipThe background is an even gray, so finding the outline pieces of the figure is the first step. The basket's grid pattern, the vertical stripes of the dress and the black hair have clear directions and are easy to fit. Since the shape is tall and narrow, it is natural to work in order from top to bottom.
- Period
- Middle Kingdom
- Dynasty
- Dynasty 12
- Medium
- Wood, gesso, paint
- Dimensions
- H. 112 cm (44 1/8 in.); W. 17 cm (6 11/16 in.); D. 46.7 cm (
- Credit line
- Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1920
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- An Afterlife Fleet in Five Pieces from a Hidden Chamber in Meketre's Tomb
In 1920, excavators opened a hidden chamber in a 4,000-year-old tomb and found model boats with their colors intact. Five pieces from Meketre's afterlife fleet.
