False door of the ankh

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False door of the ankh
False door .JPG
material limestone
Dimensions H. 132 cm; W. 58.5 cm; T. 28 cm;
origin Giza , necropolis
time Old Kingdom , 6th Dynasty , around 2230-2180 BC Chr.
place Hildesheim , Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum , PM 3086

The false door of the Ankh from the Old Kingdom (late 6th Dynasty , around 2250 BC) belongs to the Egyptian collection of the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim . From the group consisting of limestone false door , only the provided with a painted relief "door opening" and the door roller received.

Origin and size

The false door comes from the excavation by Hermann Junker in 1927. It was found in the Westfriedhof in Gizeh and was divided into the Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim. It is 132 cm high, 58.5 cm wide and 28 cm deep.

description

The painted relief of the false door of the educator Ankh was found in his small tomb, which is unusual in many ways. The central building was built from coarse stone material and contains two grave shafts, but in which there were no longer any mortal remains. A narrow cult chamber made of adobe bricks was added to the east, with two false doors oriented to the west instead of the usual south. The false door consists of two elements, the actual door niche and a round bar above it. The main front door was made of adobe bricks. The central parts with the door niche, the door roll and the false door panel above consisted of individual limestone blocks. While the decoration of the false door panel is damaged, the relief and painting in the door niche and the inscription with name and title on the door roll have been excellently preserved. The conception is unique and has no parallel, since sacrificial scenes otherwise only appear on the door post.

The depiction of the grave lord and his wife Nefretka at this point is also unusual and should possibly replace the statue missing in the grave, which otherwise can emerge from the door niche in a rounded shape. In the central field of the picture stands Ankh, splendidly dressed and provided with panther skin , which is knotted on the left shoulder and falls over the apron. He holds the Sechem scepter in his right hand and the staff of dignity in his left hand. A ring with a rosette-shaped pendant hangs around the neck. His wife wears the typical pinafore dress. Bangles adorn her right wrist and pearl jewelry adorns her neck. She grips her husband's shoulder with her left arm. The couple's daughter, Nedjetpet, stands opposite the two on a stand on a much smaller scale. On the lower part of the relief there are three male figures. The man on the right, referred to as the “ scribe Tjenti”, makes a smoke offering for Ankh and his family. His right arm is bent and holds a censer forward, his left arm is stretched out and rests on the lid of the vessel. The men approaching him bring offerings as village representatives. The left of the two, named Iruka, holds a jug for milk donations in his left hand and a goose in his right hand. The right-hand victim, Neferwawet, balances a bread basket on his head and also brings a goose. Both wear the short apron and a ribbon with a hanging lotus flower around their necks.

Although the representations have been carefully executed and are based on models from the 4th Dynasty , they have a number of problems. The technical quality in individual details stands in stark contrast to the far less successful proportions. The high-seated chest and the shortened robe bearers of the wife, the short neck of the grave lord, the inclined stand line of the smaller daughter and the much too small heads, especially of the people shown in the lower part of the picture and the too large lotus flower pendants of the two victims and the execution of the The grave and its location in the cemetery are indications for dating to the later 6th dynasty.

literature

  • Hermann Junker (Ed.): Gîza V. The Mastaba of the Snb (Seneb) and the surrounding graves . Report on the work carried out by the Academy of Sciences in Vienna at joint expense with Dr. Wilhelm Pelizaeus † undertook excavations in the cemetery of the Old Kingdom near the pyramids of Gîza (=  Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Philosophical-historical class. Memoranda . Volume 71.2 ). Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Vienna / Leipzig 1941, p. 151–154 ( gizapyramids.org [PDF; 27.0 MB ] Fig. 44 and panels XIV and XV).
  • Hans Kayser : The Egyptian antiquities in the Roemer-Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1973, ISBN 3-8067-8002-1 , p. 50 (painted relief from the grave of the “educator” Anch) and Fig. 14 (painted grave relief).
  • Bertha Porter , Rosalind LB Moss : Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. III. Memphis. Part I. (Abû Rawâsh to Abûṣîr) . 2nd edition, revised and expanded by Jaromír Málek . The Clarendon Press, Oxford 1974, pp. 100 ( gizapyramids.org [PDF; 31.0 MB ]).
  • Karl Martin: Reliefs of the Old Kingdom. Part 2. (=  Corpus Antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum. Loose-leaf catalog of Egyptian antiquities. Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim . Delivery 7). von Zabern, Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-8053-0355-6 , p. 85-89 ( gizapyramids.org [PDF; 53.9 MB ]).
  • Bettina Schmitz : Salt in the stone! Restoration problems . In: Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim (=  museum ). Westermann, December 1979, ISSN  0341-8634 , p. 116 with ill .
  • Arne Eggebrecht (ed.): The old empire. Egypt in the age of the pyramids. von Zabern, Mainz 1986, ISBN 3-8053-0936-8 , p. 108.
  • Arne Eggebrecht (Ed.): Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim. The Egyptian Collection. von Zabern, Mainz 1993, ISBN 3-8053-1579-1 , pp. 38–39 and Fig. 29.
  • Wilfried Seipel , Elfriede Haslauer u. a .: Egypt. In the realm of the pharaohs. In search of beauty and perfection. City of Leoben, Leoben 2001, ISBN 3-9500840-0-2 , cat.-no. 190.
  • Katja Lembke , Bettina Schmitz (ed.): Beauty in ancient Egypt. Longing for perfection. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 2006, ISBN 3-8067-8559-7 , cat.-no. 046, p. 170 and ill. P. 171.
  • Bettina Schmitz: "... digging the pyramids, hopefully with success!" Giza, the Old Kingdom in Hildesheim . In: Katja Lembke (Hrsg.): Das Alte Reich. Egypt from the beginnings to high culture (=  Ancient Egypt in Hildesheim ). tape 1 . von Zabern, Mainz 2009, ISBN 978-3-8053-4073-1 , p. 18 (catalog for the permanent exhibition).
  • Martin von Falck: false door of the ankh . In: Katja Lembke (Hrsg.): Das Alte Reich. Egypt from the beginnings to high culture . S. 120-121 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim: Inventory number PM 3086