IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 51004 accession number: E.6.1909 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Wednesday 6 March 2024 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: Limestone stela in the form of a false door belonging to a woman named Hemi-Ra. The door comprises two pairs of door jambs inscribed with vertical columns of hieroglyphic text, a lintel, or crossbar, with horizontal rows of hieroglyphic text and a rectangular panel with apertures at the top which is broken, but would have once been T-shaped. There is also a narrow, central niche in the middle of the door and a drum at the top (just below the lintel). The top part of the door is missing, but would have originally comprised a cavetto cornice with torus moulding and upper lintel. Hemi-Ra is shown multiple times on the door and past scholarly literature, particularly by Henry Fischer (1976), has suggested that the figures represent the female owner at three different phases of her life: as a young girl (the seated figures at the bottom of the inner jambs), a woman 'in her prime' (on the lintel and central panel) and as an older woman with frontal, drooping breasts (on the outer jambs). However, interdisciplinary research undertaken by the Fitzwilliam Museum between 2019 and 2021 indicates that the stela has been modified, probably at least twice. This is evident through changes in patina in the stone, tool marks and deeper carving in two key areas of the door - the central panel, and all of the upper bodies and the whole proper right outer figure of the figures depicted at the bottom of the jambs. These areas are also devoid of any red pigment, while red pigment can be detected elsewhere on the door - suggesting the door was once completely painted red to imitate the more expensive stone granite, and that the re-carving took place at some point after the pigment had faded. The pose and attire of the figures at the bottom of the door, which are more normally associated with male figures, is also suggestive that the door was originally carved for a man. In terms of the door's provenance, Fischer attributes the door to Busiris in the Nile Delta based on the epithet 'one revered of Hathor, the lady of Busiris'. However, examination of this title in association with the other inscriptions, and the door's architectural and stylistic properties, would point to a provenance of the Memphite nome instead. Publication of this stela is currently underway. For more information, see also: https://beta.fitz.ms/objects-and-artworks/highlights/E16909 title: stelae LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Antiquities STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/51004 TECHNIQUES ---------- carved CATEGORIES ------ category: architectural element DATING ------ creation date: 2170 - 2025 creation date earliest: 2170 creation date latest: 2025 culture: 9th Dynasty culture: 10th Dynasty culture: First Intermediate period DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Height units: cm value: 82.5 dimension: Thickness units: cm value: 8 dimension: Width units: cm value: 63.5 CITATIONS -------- Egyptian Art [1995] Stelae from Egypt and Nubia in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, c. 3000BC - AD1150 Some early monuments from Busiris, in the Egyptian Delta Forever Young? The representation of older and ageing women in ancient Egyptian art --- IMAGES surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant7/E_6_1909.jpg height: 760 pixels width: 624 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant7/mid_E_6_1909.jpg height: 609 pixels width: 500 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant7/E_6_1909.jpg height: 760 pixels width: 624 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant7/preview_E_6_1909.jpg height: 304 pixels width: 250 pixels surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant20/E_6_1909_282_29.jpg height: 760 pixels width: 616 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant20/mid_E_6_1909_282_29.jpg height: 617 pixels width: 500 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant20/E_6_1909_282_29.jpg height: 760 pixels width: 616 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/ant/ant20/preview_E_6_1909_282_29.jpg height: 308 pixels width: 250 pixels