Harvard Art Museums > 1934.17: Relief fragment from the tomb of Niankhnesut: Man holding a cow by a rope Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Relief fragment from the tomb of Niankhnesut: Man holding a cow by a rope , 1934.17,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 18, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/291843. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text These two scenes (1934.17 and 1934.18), showing provisions for the afterlife of a senior official named Niankhnesut, once lined the walls of his tomb at Saqqara in northern Egypt. The tomb was found in 1917, already disturbed. Subsequently, at least 60 fragments were removed and sold to various collectors and museums; as in many places today, wartime may have facilitated the dismantling and dispersal of Niankhnesut’s tomb. The fragments are currently scattered across at least fifteen museums and three private collections in eight countries, including Egypt. Dismantling Egyptian tombs was a widespread practice in the past. Here, it makes it difficult to understand how these scenes were originally arranged. Ongoing research suggests that they come from two different rooms in Niankhnesut’s tomb. Today, to protect the integrity of the archaeological record, tomb fragments are no longer dispersed outside of Egypt. What remains of Niankhnesut’s tomb at Saqqara continues to be investigated by Egyptian archaeologists. Identification and Creation Object Number 1934.17 Title Relief fragment from the tomb of Niankhnesut: Man holding a cow by a rope Other Titles Alternate Title: Tomb Relief: Man Holding a Cow by a Rope Alternate Title: Relief from Mastaba Tombs: Ox and Attendant Alternate Title: Relief fragment from the tomb of Niankhnisut: Man holding a cow by a rope Alternate Title: Relief fragment from the tomb of Ny-ankh-nesut: Man holding a cow by a rope Alternate Title: Relief fragment from the tomb of Nyankhnesuwt: Man holding a cow by a rope Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture, relief Date 2323-2150 BCE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Saqqara (Egypt) Period Old Kingdom, Dynasty 6 Culture Egyptian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/291843 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, traces of paint Technique Carved Dimensions 35.7 x 39 cm (14 1/16 x 15 3/8 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: top center, raised relief, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: iwA.t ["Female cattle"] Provenance Recorded Ownership History Tomb of Niankhnesut, west of Step Pyramid, Saqqara, Egypt. [Jacob Hirsch, by 1929-1930], sold; through [Harold W. Parsons, New York, NY, February 14, 1930]; to Grenville L. Winthrop, (1930-1934), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1934. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Grenville L. Winthrop, Class of 1886 Accession Year 1934 Object Number 1934.17 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS. The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Carved in shallow raised relief and originally painted (with some color still visible), this rectangular fragment of a wall relief depicts a male herdsman, at right, who stands in front of a cow. The man is nude except for an abbreviated lioncloth. He holds a rope, by which the cow is harnessed at its nose and knotted with a loop around its front left hoof. He grasps the rope in his right hand and appears to pull it taunt behind his back and over his left shoulder with his left hand; the rope disappears behind the cow. Both the man and the cow stride toward the left, each with their right legs forward: the man faces to the left and the cow turns its head back, to the right, toward the man. An inscription in hieroglyphs is present at upper center. Above, the relief fragment terminates at a raised horizontal line, marking the separation of horizontal registers. Commentary Fragment of a wall relief from the mastaba tomb of Niankhnesut (pronounced NEE-ahnk-NEH-sewt). Publication History Frederick Randolph Grace, "Two Tomb Reliefs of the Old Kingdom", Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum, President and Fellows of Harvard College (Cambridge, MA, March 1936), Vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 30-35, pp. 30-35, fig. 1 Fogg Art Museum Handbook, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1936), p. 6 Bertha Porter, Rosalind L. B. Moss, Ethel W. Burney, and Jaromír Málek, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings, Vol III. Memphis. pt. 2. Ṣaqqâra to Dahshûr., ed. Jaromír Málek, The Clarendon Press (1981), p. 694 Gregory Mumford, "Concerning the Identity of Niankhnisut, His Rediscovered Tomb Chapel, the Affiliated Decorative Program, and Other Thoughts", His Good Name: Essays on Identity and Self-Presentation in Ancient Egypt in Honor of Ronald J. Leprohon, ed. Christina Geisen, Jean Li, Steven Shubert, and Kei Yamamoto, Lockwood Press (Atlanta, 2021), pp. 213-248, p. 218 fn 26, p. 231 Table 2, Item 5 Exhibition History 32Q: 3740 Egyptian, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050 Subjects and Contexts Google Art Project Collection Highlights Related Articles Creature Feature: Animals from Ancient Egypt January 21, 2021 Related Works 1934.18 Relief fragment from the tomb of Niankhnesut: Two attendants carrying meat Sculpture 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
