Wooden table

From Thebes, Egypt
18th Dynasty, around 1350 BC

Wooden three-legged table with decorated top

The three-legged table was not very common in Egypt until Greek times, although some are shown in tomb paintings of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC). It seems most likely that this item of furniture came from a tomb; many pieces of furniture were buried with important persons around that date, the best example being the tomb of Kha, the foreman of the workmen at Deir el-Medina in the reign of Amenhotep III.

The top of this table is made from three pieces of wood, held together by dowels, and each leg is carefully shaped from one piece of wood. On the top is a representation of the cobra goddess Renenutet in front of a pile of offerings, together with an offering prayer, perhaps in the name of a person called Paperpa.

G. Killen, Ancient Egyptian furniture, 2 vols. (Warminster, Aris and Phillips, 1980, 1994)

H.S. Baker, Furniture in the ancient world (London, The Connoisseur, 1966)