Collection
/
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Relief of Mourning Women

381–343 B.C.E.

1 of 11

Object Label

This relief sculpture represents three mourners coming from a funeral procession. Each holds the top of her dress in one hand and beats her bare chest with the other. This gesture of mourning in ancient Egypt was often accompanied by loud cries of grief, evident in the open mouth of the woman on the right.

This relief was probably located originally in a tomb chapel. Traces of paint indicate that it would originally have been quite colorful.

Caption

Relief of Mourning Women, 381–343 B.C.E.. Limestone, pigment, 11 7/16 x 13 3/8 x 1 3/8 in. (29 x 34 x 3.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 1998.98. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1998.98_overall_SL3.jpg)

Title

Relief of Mourning Women

Date

381–343 B.C.E.

Dynasty

Dynasty 31

Period

Late Period

Geography

Place made: Egypt

Medium

Limestone, pigment

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

11 7/16 x 13 3/8 x 1 3/8 in. (29 x 34 x 3.5 cm)

Credit Line

Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number

1998.98

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

  • I would like more information about this relief.

    An image like this would have been important in an ancient Egyptian tomb. The image of mourners carved in stone meant that the deceased would be eternally mourned over, never forgotten.
    Clutching, like these women are doing, and even tearing at clothing was a common gesture of mourning in ancient Egypt and other ancient Near Eastern cultures.
    This relief would have been fully painted originally. You can still see black in their hair and, if you look closely at the woman to the left, an indication of fringe or a pattern on her dress.
    Thank you so much

  • Why are the women facing the same direction?

    This block is just a fragment from a much larger composition in a tomb or funerary chapel. They would have been facing towards the mummy or a depiction of the deceased.
    There may have even been more people in the originally composition.

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