Travelling Boat being Rowed
Meketre's second traveling-boat model, rowed by oarsmen and carrying a patterned cabin, with a figure at the bow watching the river ahead. Full commentary ↓
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Travelling Boat being Rowed is a textile by an unknown maker (ca. 1981–1975 B.C.) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the pictureAbout ten oarsmen sit in two rows rowing a yellow boat, and in the middle is a cabin covered with checkered cloth. A figure in a white kilt stands at the bow looking ahead, and at the stern are a helmsman and a large steering oar. A mast lies lowered above the cabin, and the length including the steering oar is 1.75 meters.
BackgroundSeveral boat models of the same kind were found in Meketre's tomb, representing a round trip up and down the river. A boat with its sail lowered and oars working shows travel downstream (north), and a boat with its sail raised shows travel upstream (south). Compared with the other traveling-boat model on this site, the pattern of the cabin cloth and the arrangement of the oarsmen differ slightly.
Puzzle tipThe checkered cabin pieces stand out the most, so fit them first. Anchor both ends with the curve of the yellow hull, the red steering oar and the standing figure at the bow, then fill in the oarsmen's heads row by row. Put in the gray background last. 48 pieces is about right.
- Period
- Middle Kingdom
- Dynasty
- Dynasty 12
- Medium
- Wood, paint, gesso, linen twine and linen fabric
- Dimensions
- l. 128 cm (50 3/8 in), with rudder 175 cm (68 7/8 in) x w. w
- 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.
