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Painted limestone, 10-3/8 by 10-7/16 inches
Egypt, Thebes, tomb of Mentuemhat, late Dynasty 25-early Dynasty 26, 670-650 bc
The fourth prophet of Amen and mayor of Thebes, Mentuemhat was the most powerful man in Upper Egypt. In his lifetime he witnessed the invasion of Egypt by the Assyrians and the changeover from Dynasty 25 to Dynasty 26, which ushered in the last great flowering of ancient Egyptian art. Mentuemhat's tomb in the Theban necropolis was one of the largest and most elaborate ever constructed for a non-royal person. Its fine reliefs are now mostly scattered in American and European collections. This beautiful painted block is a fragment of what was once a much larger scene showing the tombowner spearing fish in the marshes.
Gift of the Hanna Fund, 1949.499
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