Chapel Wall of Mery-nesut, between 2565 and 2420 BCE

  • Egyptian

Carved limestone

  • Overall (as displayed): 74 × 122 × 11 inches (188 × 309.9 × 27.9 cm)

Founders Society Purchase, McGregor Fund

V2019.10

Inscribed: [The inscriptions at the left above the main funerary scene identify Mery-nesut and his wife; just to the right of this scene is the long offering list. The false door texts and those surrounding it carry the titles and names of Mery-nesut, his family, the funerary priests, and a short list of funerary offerings. For translation and transliteration, see Fischer, Henry G. "Offerings for an Old Kingdom Granary Official," in BDIA. Vol. 51, Nos. 2 and 3, 1972. pp. 69-80.]

ca. 1901-1905, excavated by George A. Fischer and the Harvard-Boston expedition from tomb of Mery-nesut (Giza necropolis, Al Haram, Egypt)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, Massachusettes, USA)

1971-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Bulletin of the DIA 51, no. 2 and 3 (1972): pp. 63-80 (ill.). Smith. Egyptian Sculpture and Painting in the Old Kingdom. London: Oxford University Press, 1946, p. 65. Cherpion, Nadine. Sentiment Comjugal et Figuration a l'Ancien Empire. In Kunst der Alten Reiches [proceeded of the symposium at the German Archaeological Institute]. Cairo, October 29-30, 1991, pp. 33-47, [cf. p. 33 and pl. 2c]. Reisner, George A. Unpublished field notes from excavation in the files of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Ca. 1904-1910. pp. 1-6. Reisner, George A. A History of the Giza Necropolis, vol. I. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1942, p. 382. Smith, William Stevenson. History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting in the Old Kingdom, 2nd ed. Hacker: New York,1978, p. 65. Bulletin of the DIA 51, no. 1 (1972): pp. 9-10. Fischer, Henry G. "Offerings for an Old Kingdom Granary Official," Bulletin of the DIA 51, no. 2 and 3 (1972): pp. 69-80. Peck, William H. "An Old Kingdom Tomb Wall," Bulletin of the DIA 51, no. 2 and 3 (1972): pp. 63-68. PM III, pp. 61; 353. Peck. 1978, p. 15, 17. Peck. 1983, p. 5 (ill.). Peck, William H. "A Cross-Section of Ancient Art," Apollo, vol. CXXIV, no. 298 (December 1986): pp. 12, 14 (ill.). Peck. 1991b, p. 23. Peck. 1991a, pp. 15, 18, 68, (ill.).