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Funerary cone of Merymaat and Maya
Egyptian
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18–20
1550–1070 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Pottery
Dimensions
Height x diameter: 15 x 6.5 cm (5 7/8 x 2 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Hay Collection—Gift of C. Granville Way
Accession NumberRES.72.278
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsArchitectural elements
Catalogue Raisonné
Davies & MacAdam 11
DescriptionFunerary cone of reddish clay with tapering cone element largely intact. Head end carries a stamp with five divided columns of hieroglyphic text which identifies the owner. Slightly battered along left edge of the impressed text. Remnant red wash on head end.
The text reads:
"Honored one
before Osiris, Wab-priest of Maat
Merymaat, True-of-Voice
in the necropolis (and) his sister, his beloved, Lady of the House
Maya, True-of-Voice"
Transliteration:
imAxy
xr Wsir wab n MAat
Mry-MAat mAa xrw
m Xrt-nTr snt.f mrt.f nbt-pr
MaiA mAat xrw
Funerary cones were components of a frieze, inserted above the doors of private tombs, particularly in the Theban region. They have been variously interpreted as: name-plates of sorts to identify the tomb owner, decorative memorials, boundary markers for a tomb, dummy bread loaves or meat offerings, symbolic roof beams, or (for the visible circular head) depictions of the sun disk.
Davies and Macadam, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones (1957), type #11.
The text reads:
"Honored one
before Osiris, Wab-priest of Maat
Merymaat, True-of-Voice
in the necropolis (and) his sister, his beloved, Lady of the House
Maya, True-of-Voice"
Transliteration:
imAxy
xr Wsir wab n MAat
Mry-MAat mAa xrw
m Xrt-nTr snt.f mrt.f nbt-pr
MaiA mAat xrw
Funerary cones were components of a frieze, inserted above the doors of private tombs, particularly in the Theban region. They have been variously interpreted as: name-plates of sorts to identify the tomb owner, decorative memorials, boundary markers for a tomb, dummy bread loaves or meat offerings, symbolic roof beams, or (for the visible circular head) depictions of the sun disk.
Davies and Macadam, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones (1957), type #11.
ProvenanceBy 1836: Robert Hay Collection, Linplum, Scotland; 1863: to his son, Robert James Alexander Hay; 1868-1872: Way Collection, Boston (purchased by Samuel A. Way through London dealers Rollin and Feuardent, 27 Haymarket); 1872: given to the MFA by Samuel's son, C. Granville Way.
(Accession Date: June 28, 1872)
(Accession Date: June 28, 1872)