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Funerary cone of Amenhotep
Egyptian
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18–20
1550–1070 B.C.
Object Place: Egypt, Likely from Thebes (Dra Abu el-Naga)
Medium/Technique
Pottery
Dimensions
Length x width x diameter: 12.3 x 6.8 x 7 cm (4 13/16 x 2 11/16 x 2 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Hay Collection—Gift of C. Granville Way
Accession NumberRES.72.329
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsArchitectural elements
Catalogue Raisonné
Davies & MacAdam 151
DescriptionFragment of a brick employed as a funerary cone, fashioned of reddish clay. One side retains faint traces of red paint and two identical circular stamped impressions of hieroglyphic text. The text is arranged in an undivided field and identifies the owner as "One Honored by Osiris, Acolyte of Amen of the 4th phyle Amenhotep, True-of-Voice" (imAxy xr Wsir imy-st-a n Imn Hr sA 4-nw Imn-Htp mAa xrw). One corner broken away, taking a portion of one impression with it.
Funerary cones (and objects employed similarly) 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, customarily circular head) depictions of the sun disk.
For other examples of this tomb owner see: Res.72.325; Res.72.326; Res.72.327; Res.72.328; Res.72.330; 72.1812; 72.1813.
Davies and Macadam, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones (1957), type #151.
Funerary cones (and objects employed similarly) 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, customarily circular head) depictions of the sun disk.
For other examples of this tomb owner see: Res.72.325; Res.72.326; Res.72.327; Res.72.328; Res.72.330; 72.1812; 72.1813.
Davies and Macadam, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones (1957), type #151.
ProvenanceProbably from Dra Abu el-Naga (Thebes). 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)