Model of a River Boat
Middle Kingdom, mid-Dynasty 12, about 1875 BCE
Medium
Wood and pigment
Dimensions
63.5 × 114.3 × 17.1 cm (25 × 45 × 6 3/4 in.)
Classification
sculpture
Department
Arts of Africa
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
127874
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
For millennia the Nile River has connected people living in the towns and cities along its banks. Ancient Egyptians used boats, barges, and other watercraft as their main forms of transportation to conduct commerce, state business, and religious pilgrimages. Skilled sailors, like the 15 men represented here, rowed north with the river’s current or sailed south with the prevailing winds. This model boat was placed in a tomb chamber to ensure that the deceased would be able to travel for eternity.
About the Artist
Ancient Egyptian
Ancient Egyptian artists, a collective of highly skilled artisans spanning over three millennia from the Predynastic period (c. 6000–3150 BC) to the Roman era (30 BC–4th century AD), produced some of humanity's most enduring masterpieces. These anonymous craftsmen, often organized in state-sponsored workshops, lived in dedicated communities like Deir el-Medina near Luxor during the New Kingdom (c....