Funeral Stela of the Gatekeeper Maaty in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2008

Title: Funerary Stela of the Gatekeeper Maaty

Period: First Intermediate Period

Dynasty: Dynasty 11

Reign: reign of Mentuhotep II, early

Date: ca. 2051–2030 B.C.

Geography: Egypt, Upper Egypt; Thebes, el-Tarif probably

Medium: Limestone

Dimensions: H: 36.4 cm (14 5/16 in.), W: 60 cm (23 5/8 in.), D: 5.9 cm (2 5/16 in.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1914

Accession Number: 14.2.7


Description:

Maati is shown seated in front of the offering table with a jar for the sacred oil in his left hand. The text on this masterpiece of early Middle Kingdom relief art contains references to other figures of the time-such as Maaty's overseer, the treasurer Bebi, who later became a vizier, and an ancestor of the ruling family called Intef "the Great"-demonstrating the close ties that bound rulers and followers together in the Theban society of the time.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/egypti...