14 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4PP - Email: info@rupertwace.co.uk
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| Basalt offering table |  |
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The lower face is bevelled, whilst the upper surface is finely carved in low relief with depictions of two 'hes' or water vessels and four loaves of various shapes, all on a reed mat with a specially-shaped loaf at the centre which, with the mat, spells the Egyptian word for "Offering". Above them a long, shallow, horizontal basin gives on to a long tapering runnel. The whole scene is set within a frame of engraved hieroglyphic inscription that reads: Djedhor son of Horwedja and born to Ir(t)w-rw. Although the names are 26th Dynasty or later the cryptic writing in the main texts of the verb "come forth" as a serpent coming out of its hole dates the piece to the Ptolemaic Period.
Both sides have a text for recitation from the Liturgy of Funerary Offerings. The text on the right reads: "Recitation: You have received integrity (?) coming forth when you cross over; your heart is not weary though it. I have brought it to you (to be) beneath your sandals. Come, what comes forth for you at the voice four times." Ptolemaic Period. c. 300 BC Cf. William C. Hayes, 'The Scepter of Egypt, A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Part I: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom', New York 1959, pp.116-117: 'To receive the libations and food offerings presented to the spirit of the dead almost every tomb was provided with a low stone table or offering slab placed immediately in front of the false-door stela. The table was usually rectangular in plan and was equipped with a spout at the forward edge to carry off the water and other liquids poured upon it. Sometimes the slab was given the form of the hieroglyph (drawn as) a loaf of bread perched upon a rolled mat, which at an early period came to be a general symbol for 'offering'. More frequently, as in the tomb of pry-neb, this sign was carved in relief upon the surface of the table. Libation vases, loaves of bread and cuts of meat also were depicted in relief on the tops of the more elaborate tables. Shallow basins cut into the surfaces of the slabs collected the poured liquids, which were then drained off by runnels leading to the projecting stone spout.' A cruder example can be seen in George Steindorff, 'Catalogue of the Egyptian Sculpture in the Walters Art Gallery', Baltimore, 1946, pl. LV, no. 291, and p. 88-89. Provenance. Private collection France, acquired 1960s |
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Rupert Wace Ancient Art
14 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4PP - Email: info@rupertwace.co.uk |
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