Stela of the Woman Takhenemet
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Although painted wooden stelae are known from just before Dynasty XVIII (circa 1539–1295 B.C.), they did not become common until Dynasty XXI (circa 1070–945 B.C.), at the outset of the Third Intermediate Period (circa 1070–653 B.C.). Thereafter they were popular until the end of the Ptolemaic Period (305–30 B.C.).
These wooden stelae were often deposited inside the burial chamber out of public view. As on countless earlier stelae, the central scene usually shows the deceased making an offering to a deity, but on examples dating to the Third Intermediate Period the dead person makes the offering directly, without the assistance of another god.
Here Takhenemet pays homage to the hawk-headed solar god Re-Horakhty, who has the guise and costume of Osiris, lord of the underworld. The composite representation illustrates well the merging of religious beliefs that occurred in the Third Intermediate Period with regard to the solar and nether realms.
Caption
Egyptian. Stela of the Woman Takhenemet, ca. 775–653 B.C.E.. Wood, gesso, pigment, 10 3/4 x 9 7/16 x 13/16 in. (27.3 x 23.9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 08.480.201. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.08.480.201_wwg8.jpg)
Culture
Title
Stela of the Woman Takhenemet
Date
ca. 775–653 B.C.E.
Dynasty
Dynasty 25 (probably)
Period
Third Intermediate Period
Geography
Place collected: Thebes (Deir el-Bahri), Egypt
Medium
Wood, gesso, pigment
Classification
Dimensions
10 3/4 x 9 7/16 x 13/16 in. (27.3 x 23.9 x 2 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
08.480.201
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Is the woman on the right dead?
Yes she is! This stele would have likely come from her burial chamber. Takhenemet is making offerings to Re-Horakhty--a solar deity especially related to the rising sun and thus rebirth--here dressed as Osiris, king of the netherworld. We can tell that this stele was made in the Third Intermediate Period at the earliest because Takhenemet presents her offerings directly to Re-Horakhty with the assistance of another intermediary deity.I think it's interesting how colorful it is. Were there ever any stone reliefs depicting the same theme?Yes. Wooden stelae were only common from the Third Intermediate Period through the Ptolemaic Period.Tell me more.
The stela of wood and plaster that you sent shows the solar god Re-Horakthy dressed as Osiris, king of the afterlife. Re-Horakthy is associated with the rising sun and rebirth. The woman, Takhenemet, who is dead in this image, is making an offering to the god.
Have information?
Have information about an artwork? Contact us at