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Funerary cone of Thutmose

Egyptian
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18–20
1550–1070 B.C.

Medium/Technique Pottery
Dimensions Height x diameter: 7.6 x 6.4 cm (3 x 2 1/2 in.)
Credit Line Hay Collection—Gift of C. Granville Way
Accession NumberRES.72.353
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsArchitectural elements

Catalogue Raisonné Davies & MacAdam 271
DescriptionFunerary cone fragment of reddish clay with tapering cone element broken off and missing. One complete rectangular stamp on the right side of the head and a portion of the same stamp to its left. The impression shows hieroglyphic text in an undivided register naming the owner as "Chief Wab-priest of Amen, Thutmose" (aA n wab n Imn DHwty-ms).

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 other examples of this tomb owner see: Res.72.351; Res.72.352; Res.72.354; Res.72.355; Res.72.356; 72.1823; 72.1824.

Davies and Macadam, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones (1957), type #271.
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)