Stela of Djedbastet

Stela of Djedbastet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This stela is one of four found near the doorway of a brick chapel built during the 22nd Dynasty (ca. 800 B.C.) in the courtyard of a usurped tomb of Dynasty 11 (ca. 2050 B.C.). The painted panels belong to family members and associates of a wab (purification) priest named Siah. All of the stelae are painted in green, red, yellow and black on a white ground. Here Djedbastet, son of Penby, raises his arms in adoration before the falcon-headed Re-Harakhty-Atum. The inscription identifies him as a wab priest of Amun and a Scribe of the [House of the] Divine Votaress of Amun. Djedbastet's relationship to the Siah family is not clear. Note the offering stand between the two figures, which is almost identical to that seen on another of the stelae from this chapel (see 22.3.32). The back of the stela is undecorated.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.