{"product_id":"ancient-egyptian-limestone-stela","title":"Ancient Egyptian Limestone Stela","description":"Ancient Egyptian Limestone Stela\u003cbr\u003e Late Ptolemaic Period, circa 2nd-1st century BCE \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This limestone stela was carved during the Late Ptolemaic Period, circa the 2nd-1st century BCE, in the twilight of pharaonic Egypt. Commissioned for Pa-Wept-Nakht, son of Pa-Di-Wesir, it survives fully intact with traces of its original polychromy, a condition rarely encountered in stelae of this age. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Its inscriptions repeatedly invoke \"Thebes of the North,\" a religious center the British Museum identified in its 1981 translation as Tell el-Balamun in the northeastern Delta. The museum noted that this is an understudied and fascinating site and that very few objects can be connected to it, making this stela a considerable rarity. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Five deities are featured beneath the round top, each identified by hieroglyphic text: Amun-Re, lord of the thrones of the Two Lands; Mut, mistress of Isheru; lion-headed Sekhmet, the eye of Re; hawk-headed Khonsu-Neferhotep; and Horus of Edfu, crowned with the double crown. They face a standing male figure who wears the double crown and extends two unguent jars in offering. The cartouches before him remain blank, an omission that points to a period of political upheaval and rapid dynastic change. A winged sun-disc spans the arch above, while a single line of text runs along the base, asking the gods to grant life and health to Pa-Wept-Nakht. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Stelae served as the principal medium through which ancient Egyptians addressed the divine, recording decrees, honoring the dead and commemorating events in permanent stone. Comparable examples anchor the Egyptian holdings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Princeton University Art Museum. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 17 1\/2\" high x 16 1\/4\" wide x 2 3\/4\" deep (44.45 x 41.28 x 6.99 cm) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Provenance:\u003cbr\u003e Private collection, London\u003cbr\u003e Private collection, Boston\u003cbr\u003e M.S. Rau, New Orleans","brand":"M.S. Rau","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45400580292743,"sku":"32-2947","price":124500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0083\/2471\/0466\/files\/32-2947_1_f8c0ffa6-5c53-472b-aa71-2c617f70afb7.png?v=1785972017","url":"https:\/\/rauantiques.com\/products\/ancient-egyptian-limestone-stela","provider":"M.S. Rau","version":"1.0","type":"link"}