Asset number
448617001
Description
Limestone funerary stela with a reclining woman: there is some loss to the surface of the stela, and any trace of paint has now vanished. Otherwise the stone is well preserved but for the subject's damaged right eye. A woman dressed in a tunic and mantle, the latter draped over her hips, rests on three cushions piled onto a bed. She sits up, her face turned to the viewer. In her outstretched right hand she holds a libation dish ('patera'); in her left, a scroll. On her right wrist is a thick bracelet. Her hair is parted centrally, and arranged in tiers of curls with long locks falling behind the ears and onto the shoulders. The face is oval, the surviving proper left eye almond-shaped. The drapery is carefully carved to suggest a voluptuous figure. Beside the woman on a shelf is a reclining jackal, representing the god Anubis, companion and protector of the dead. The bed and shelf are set within an architectural frame, perhaps representing the tomb. The setting comprises monolithic column shafts, set on bases which rest on rectangular plinths; lotus capitals with imposts; and an epistyle with moulded cornice supporting a moulded pediment.
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