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Funerary cone of Userhat
Egyptian
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18
1550–1295 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Pottery
Dimensions
Depth x length: 5.7 x 7.9 cm (2 1/4 x 3 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Hay Collection—Gift of C. Granville Way
Accession NumberRES.72.281
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsArchitectural elements
Catalogue Raisonné
Davies & MacAdam 255
DescriptionFunerary cone fragment of reddish clay with majority of cone element broken off and missing. Deeply impressed circular stamp on the head with hieroglyphic text identifying the owner as "Overseer of the Cattle of Amen, Userhat" (imy-r iHw n Imn Wsir-HAt). Left portion of head missing fragment.
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.
For another example of the same owner see: 72.1774.
Davies and Macadam, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones (1957), type #255.
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.
For another example of the same owner see: 72.1774.
Davies and Macadam, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones (1957), type #255.
ProvenanceProbably from Thebes (Dra Abu el-Naga). By 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)