AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE FALSE DOOR FRAGMENT FOR WESH-PTAH

OLD KINGDOM, DYNASTY IV-VI, CIRCA 2600-2181 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE FALSE DOOR FRAGMENT FOR WESH-PTAH
OLD KINGDOM, DYNASTY IV-VI, CIRCA 2600-2181 B.C.
The panels with three vertical columns of hieroglyphs, the outermost reading, 'Anubis, Foremost of the divine booth, True of voice, Judge, Keeper of the Nekhen, Inspector of [the Archivists of the royal documents], Wesh-Ptah', the lintel with two horizontal rows of text, reading, 'True of voice before the great god, Wesh-Ptah, Judge, Keeper of the Nekhen, Inspector of [the Archivists of the royal documents], Iy', with three representations of the deceased, in profile to the right, holding a staff and sekhem-sceptre
27½ in. (70 cm.) high

Provenance

Princess Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiary, Paris, prior to 1976.
Succession de Son Altesse Impériale la Princesse Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiary (1932-2001); Beaussant Lefèvre, Drouot-Montaigne, Paris, 29-31 May 2002, lot 821.
Private collection, Switzerland.

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Lot Essay

The title 'Inspector of the archivists of royal documents' is spelled sehedj (he)r(y) medjaut, literally 'those concerned with royal documents'. Only half a dozen tombs are recorded bearing this title, located more often in Saqqara than Giza, cf. D. Jones, An Index of Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, vol. II, Basingstoke, 2000. For a discussion on a false door bearing the same title, cf. H. G. Fisher, 'Offerings for an Old Kingdom granary official', Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 51, 1972, pp. 69-80.

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