Model: an audience with the master
Information sur l’artiste
EGYPT, MEIR (?)
Modèle funéraire : l'Audience du maître, Moyen Empire.
Image © Lyon MBA - Photo Alain Basset
After the end of the Old Kingdom, and in particular during the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom, the custom of placing painted wooden models in tombs depicting daily life scenes became increasingly widespread. These models were a way for the deceased to recreate their household in the afterlife and to have servants to attend to their day-to-day needs.
This model portrays an audience held by a royal official. The master, a tall figure with his hands on his knees, is listening to the reports and grievances of six servants, five men and a woman, gathered in a courtyard. Some bow in deference, one leans on a cane, while another carries a bag on his shoulder. The men are dressed in loincloths and wearing short wigs, and the long-haired woman is wearing a dress with straps. This scene is a reminder of the earthly authority and status of the deceased, yet it also expresses his wish to see his household reassembled in order to help him with any agricultural work that may need to be done in the afterlife.
Egypt, Meir (?)
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, circa 1991-1797 B.C.
Stuccoed polychrome wood
L. 30; W. 27.5; H. 24.7 cm
Acquired in 1969
Inv. 1969-404