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Gallery Text

This relief includes parts of two horizontally stacked scenes from the tomb of a senior official named Tepemankh. In the upper scene, only the feet survive; below, two men are being hauled off for punishment by Tjenti, a policeman who is named in the hieroglyphic text. The men presumably owe a debt to Tepemankh, who would have been depicted farther to the right.

The drawing you see here, by Harvard professor Peter Der Manuelian, shows how inscriptions can be studied through a method called digital epigraphy. Such drawings, made directly on a computer, allow archaeologists to record and communicate the lines an ancient artist carved. They also show an object’s modern condition: compare the damaged parts of this relief to the gray areas of the drawing. Additionally, this method lets us "reunite" tomb scenes that are now scattered across museum collections. The scene in front of you continues on a relief in Cairo, visible here on the right side of the drawing.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1977.185
Title
Relief fragment from the tomb of Tepemankh
Other Titles
Former Title: Recalcitrant Taxpayers
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
relief, sculpture
Date
2465-2400 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Saqqara (Egypt)
Period
Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5
Culture
Egyptian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/288046

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3740, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Egypt: Art for Eternity
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
limestone, paint
Technique
Carved
Dimensions
28.6 cm h x 57.4 cm w x 4.5 cm d (11 1/4 x 22 5/8 x 1 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: upper right, raised relief, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: sA-pr Tnti [policeman Tjenti]
  • inscription: middle center, on crack (under arm of central standing figure), raised relief, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: HqA [(?)]
  • inscription: lower center, on crack (between central kneeling and standing figures), raised relief, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: Nfr-Hr-(?) [Nefer-her-(?)]
  • inscription: upper center left (to right of the head of the leftmost figure), raised relief, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: imy-r sSr Xnmw-HAp [Overseer of cloth Khnum(?)-hap]
  • inscription: lower left corner, raised relief, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: Nswt-k[…] [Ni-ka-nisut or Ka-ni-nisut?]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Tomb of Tepemankh, Saqqara, Egypt. [Spink and Son, Ltd.]. Dorothy Dear Metzger Hutton (Mrs. Edward F. Hutton) (by 1972), sold; through [Sotheby Parke-Bernet]; to Leon Harris, (1972-1977), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1977.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Leon Harris, Jr., in honor of Simon Michael Bessie, class of 1936
Accession Year
1977
Object Number
1977.185
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This fragment includes scenes, executed in raised relief, from two registers. In the lower and better preserved one, two individuals are being dragged toward the right by two others. These have been identified as recalcitrant taxpayers being hauled before the tomb owner whose figure would have stood farther to the right, facing them. There is extensive labeling of subordinate figures in hieroglyphic script.
Commentary
Fragment of a wall relief from the tomb of Tepemankh (pronounced TEP-em-ahnk).

This relief fragment comes from the east wall of the tomb's long corridor. The tomb was a mastaba: a tomb with an oblong, rectangular superstructure containing the corridor and an offering chamber above ground and an underground burial chamber . It was designated mastaba "D11" by early Egyptologist Auguste Mariette; it is also referred to as Mastaba 76. Tepemankh is sometimes referred to as "Tepemankh II" (also spelled "Tep-em-ankh II") by scholars, in order to distinguish him from another individual named Tepemankh who was also buried at Saqqara during the Old Kingdom period.

Publication History

  • Peter Der Manuelian, A Market Scene from the Tomb of Tepemankh, Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids, Metropolitan Museum of Art / Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, 1999), 404-407, p. 405, fig. 126

Exhibition History

  • Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/22/2007 - 01/20/2008
  • 32Q: 3740 Egyptian, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/31/2023 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu