Tomb Wall Fragment Depicting Offering Bearers and Butchers
Old Kingdom, mid–Dynasty 5–early Dynasty 6 (about 2445–2287 BCE)
Medium
Limestone
Dimensions
45 × 94.3 × 13.7 cm (17 3/4 × 37 1/8 × 5 3/8 in.)
Classification
architectural fragment
Department
Arts of Africa
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
120368
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In the upper register, priests and servants prepare food offerings, including birds and ribs of beef. The lower register portrays butchers at work. Their kilts are tucked into their waistbands to keep them clean. To the left, butchers carry away a cow’s heart and a jar of blood.
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....