Detail of the Wall Decoration from the Funerary Apartments of King Djoser in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2008

Wall Decoration from the Funerary Apartments of King Djoser
Dynasty 3, reign of Djoser (ca. 2630-2611 BC)
Blue-green faience; ledges are modern plaster restoration

Accession # 48.160.1

Tiles mounted between sculpted limestone ledges decorated the walls of the galleries underneath Djoser's Step Pyramid and underneath a building in his complex called the Southern Tomb. The decoration was meant to imitate the reed matting that covered the walls of his palace.

Djoser's Step Pyramid and the surrounding mostly solid dummy structures are the earliest preserved stone buildings in Egypt. They represent an attempt to create an eternal royal residence of durable materials for the afterlife.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.