<em>Stela of Pakhaas</em>, 2nd–1st century B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 14 3/4 x 10 5/8 x 1 5/8 in. (37.5 x 27 x 4.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 71.37.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 71.37.2_SL1.jpg)

Stela of Pakhaas, 2nd–1st century B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 14 3/4 x 10 5/8 x 1 5/8 in. (37.5 x 27 x 4.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 71.37.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 71.37.2_SL1.jpg)

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Stela of Pakhaas

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

The central vignette here features a unique combination of two types of stela illustration. Normally the deceased is shown offering to Osiris, lord of the underworld, or to another deity. Alternatively, the deceased and his or her spouse receive offerings from their family. At first glance, the stela seems to fit the second category. The dead person, Pakhaas, accompanied by his wife, Nesihor, who stands behind him holding a sistrum, or rattle, enjoys the oblations of his son, Pakhy (a nickname, in effect, Pakhaas, Jr.).

This scene, however, is hardly conventional. Pakhy’s censer and Nesihor’s sistrum rarely appear in scenes of offerings to humans, and Pakhaas is not depicted as a mortal. The small image of the god Osiris that sits on his knees suggests that Pakhaas has become that god. Pakhy thus becomes Horus, who offers to his dead father, Osiris, and Nesihor is Isis.

MEDIUM Limestone, pigment

Reportedly From: Thebes, Egypt

DATES 2nd–1st century B.C.E.

PERIOD Ptolemaic Period

DIMENSIONS 14 3/4 x 10 5/8 x 1 5/8 in. (37.5 x 27 x 4.2 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 71.37.2

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Round-topped limestone stela. The top portion is decorated with a curved sign of heaven above a sun-disk with down-curved wings. Suspended from the disk are two cobras representing Wadjet and Nekhbet. Facing them are two jackals. Part of the original gilding is preserved on the sun disk; the sky was painted blue; traces of red are preserved on the disk's wings. The jackals are recumbent upon a base line below which is a horizontal sign of heaven. Traces of blue paint with red stars are preserved in this sign. Below, in a rectangular field flanked by was scepters are three figures. To the left, facing right, stands a woman holding a sistrum. She is the mother of the deceased who is shown in the center, facing right towards his son, separated from him by a table with offerings. The son offers incense and a liquid to his father. Figure of Osiris upon lap of deceased. Condition: Chipped in upper left corner; small chips here and there. Diagonal gouge in lines three to five of main text. Much of the original paint and gilding preserved on the figures and their jewelry.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view on the 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Stela of Pakhaas, 2nd–1st century B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 14 3/4 x 10 5/8 x 1 5/8 in. (37.5 x 27 x 4.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 71.37.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 71.37.2_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 71.37.2_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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RIGHTS STATEMENT 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.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Have the red and green colors been maintained? Or were they likely a completely different color when created?

Those pigments are original to the piece. Red and green mineral pigments are longer-lasting. Other colors, like blue, fade more rapidly and are no longer visible to our naked eye.