Ceremonial Sickle of the "Fieldworker of Amun" Amunemhat
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
Tools
Egyptian workers, including artisans, farmers, and fishermen, required a wide variety of specialized tools.
Woodworkers employed axes that had copper or bronze blades lashed to wooden handles with leather.
Carpenters produced smooth surfaces with copper chisels, often with serrated edges.
Tanners used broad, flat knives to cut strips of leather for sandals, harnesses, and whips, which they then pierced with metal awls.
Field hands cut grain with curved sickles fitted with small flint blades.
Fishermen relied on metal hooks with tiny barbs, much like their modern-day equivalents.
Officials used siphons to inspect the liquid contents of vessels without breaking through the protective mud seals.
MEDIUM
Wood, pigment
DATES
ca. 1479–1425 B.C.E.
DYNASTY
Dynasty 18
PERIOD
New Kingdom
DIMENSIONS
Exterior: 9 × 13 1/2 × 2 in. (22.9 × 34.3 × 5.1 cm)
Blade Channel: 3/16 × 1/8 × 6 11/16 in. (0.5 × 0.3 × 17 cm)
(show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER
48.27
CREDIT LINE
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Ceremonial Sickle of the "Fieldworker of Amun" Amunemhat, ca. 1479–1425 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, Exterior: 9 × 13 1/2 × 2 in. (22.9 × 34.3 × 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.27. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 48.27_SL3.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 48.27_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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I was wondering: what's the meaning of the hieroglyphs written here?
The inscription on this sickle translates to “the cultivator of Amun, Amunemhat, repeating life.” The inscription and its materials indicate that this is a ceremonial representation of the tool that was meant to be included in the tomb of a man named Amunemhat. It could relate to an official role he had in his life related to cultivation, but more likely relates agricultural responsibilities his soul will have in the afterlife.
Oh, great. Thanks.
