06 Berman

The Stele of Shemai, Chief of Police, of the Early Twelfth Dynasty, in The Cleveland Museum of Art

Lawrence M. Berman

n choosing a s

Kelly Simpson,Middle Kingdom

monuments in AmeIn 190102 an

William Amhurst excavated thirty-twAswan.

1

Family frieties for Upper Egypttions.

2

Lady Cecils Didlington Hall, Notion was auctioned for the Cleveland M

for the Museum wapolice named ShemHawa (figs. 12).

4

The stele is in torus molding withcrowned by a curvedel is sunk within a more pairs of jambs

The main sceneseated on a low-bac

1

Lady William Cecil, R

with pl. IV; idem, Repor

6 (1905), pp. 27383; PM

2

See T.G.H. James,

How

1992), pp. 8182.

3

For Carters associationand The Cleveland Museum

Creates an Art Museum

(Clev

I

06 BERMAN Page 93 Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:38 PMh the Cleveland Museum of Art, see idem, Howard Carterof Art, in Evan H. Turner, ed., Object Lessons: Clevelandeland, 1991), pp. 6677.ubject wherewith to honor my former teacher, I have been guided by his interest in all things

and also his devotion to publishing little-knownrican collections.

d 1904, Lady William Cecil, eldest daughter ofTyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney,o rock-cut tombs at Qubbet el-Hawa, oppositend Howard Carter, then Chief Inspector of Antiqui-, was periodically on hand to supervise the excava-share of the finds entered the Amherst collection atrfolk. When the major part of this important collec-at Sothebys, London, in 1921, Carter acted as agentuseum of Art.

3 Among the dozen objects he acquired

s the upper part of a stele inscribed for a chief ofai, from Lady Cecils second season at Qubbet el-

the form of a false door framed on three sides by a transverse and diagonal lashings in raised relief and cavetto cornice with parallel palm fronds. The pan-door frame. Below was probably a lintel and one or enclosing a central niche.

5

, carved in raised relief, shows Shemai on the right,ked chair, facing left toward a pile of offerings. He

eport on the Work Done at Aswan, ASAE 4 (1903), pp. 5173,t of Work Done at Aswan during the First Months of 1904, ASAE 5, pp. 24042.ard Carter: The Path to Tutankhamen (London and New York,

wit

Studies in Honor of William Kelly Simpson

94

Fig. 1. Stele of Shemai. Painted limestone, 83.4 x 87.4 cm. Aswan, Qubbet el-Hawa, northeast slope of hill, excavations of Lady William Cecil, 1904, tomb no. 28, early Dynasty 12, probably reign of Sesostris I. Gift of Edward S. Harkness. CMA 21.1017.

06 BERMAN Page 94 Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:38 PM

Lawrence M. Berman,


wears a short, curled wig that covers the ears, a pleated kilt, and a sashacross his chest. His broad (

wesekh

) collar is composed of three rows oftubular beads and an outer row of drop-shaped beads. He wears beadbracelets on both wrists, and a bead belt. His left hand rests on his thigh,holding a folded bolt of cloth or handkerchief, while his right reaches outtoward the pile of offerings: joints of meat, loaves of various shape, aduck or goose, a basket of figs on a tray, onions or leeks, and other vege-tables. In the center is a raised relief inscription arranged in three col-umns: The one honored before Osiris, lord of Busiris, (2) the great god,lord of Abydos, that he may give invocation-offerings of bread and beer,oxen and fowl, (3) linen and travertine (vessels) to the

ka

of the overseerof police, Shemai, v

6

The door frame beginning in the ceneither side. On the rwho is on his mouncemetery, that he mlinen and travertine

offering which the kof Abydos [that he

4

CMA 21.1017

Stele of

24 cm, D. below cornicetions of Lady William Cetris I. Gift of Edward S. HEx collection: William Aton Hall, Norfolk; sale: Lherst Collection of EgyptDynasty 18). Publications: Cecil,

ASA

(Cleveland, 1925), p. 55, rPM 5, p. 241.

5

E.g., J. Vandier,

Manue

tecture funraire

(Paris, 1

6

The name is incorrectl

final sign; it is the reed

Egyptian Religious and A

390; add Labib Habachi,

no. 85, line 17, a stele frcommissaires de police

Jacques Jean Clre

(=

Cade Lille

13) (1991), pp. 11Middle Kingdom,

JAOS

Leprohon for an offprint

7

tpw,

probably followe

8

The top part of

d

is jus

06 BERMAN Page 95 Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:38 PM95

indicated. Some of the much faded color remains. is inscribed in sunk relief with two offering formulaeter of the lintel and continuing down the jambs on

ight is An offering which the king gives to Anubis,tain, who is in the place of embalming, lord of theay give a thousand of bread and beer, oxen and fowl,, of[ferings and provisions(?)]

7 On the left is An

ing gives to Osiris, lord of Busiris, the great god, lordmay give]

8 Some of the hieroglyphs have raised

Shemai, painted limestone, H. 79 cm, W. 87.4 cm, D. at cornice 13 cm. Aswan, Qubbet el-Hawa, northeast slope of hill, excava-cil, 1904, tomb no. 28, early Dynasty 12, probably reign of Sesos-arkness.

mhurst Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney, Didling-ondon, June 1317, 1921, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, The Am-ian and Oriental Antiquities, lot 191, cat. p. 19 and pl. IV (as mid-

E 6, pp. 27677; Handbook of The Cleveland Museum of Artepro. (as Dynasty 18), 2nd ed. (1928), p. 70, repro. (as Dynasty 18);

l d'archologie gyptienne, vol. II: Les grandes poques. L'archi-954), p. 407, fig. 278, 1, 3.

y spelled in Cecil, ASAE 6, p. 277, with the feather (H 2) as theleaf. For the title, my-r nt (or n), William A. Ward, Index of

dministrative Titles of the Middle Kingdom (Beirut, 1982), no.Elephantine IV: The Sanctuary of Heqaib, AV 33 (Mainz, 1985),om the Heqaib sanctuary; Guillemette Andreu, Deux stles de (my-r n) de la Premire Priode Intermdiaire, Mlangeshiers de Recherches de lInstitut de Papyrologie et d'Egyptologie23; Ronald J. Leprohon, Administrative Titles in Nubia in the 113 (1993), p. 432, no. [143], with references. I thank Professorof his very useful article.d by fw provisions. t visible.


96

Fig. 2. Head and shoulders. Detail of stele of Shemai, CMA 21.1017.

06 BERMAN Page 96 Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:38 PM

Lawrence M. Berman,


interior modeling with incised detailnote particularly the quail chickand owl (figs. 34).

Traces of red, black, blue, and green pigment on the surface are dis-cernable to the naked eye. Shemais skin is painted red, as is every thirdsquare of his belt; his wig is black. The offerings of meat, bill and feet ofthe goose, and basket of figs are red. The hieroglyphs are blue for the

swt

-plant, the bread (

t

), the mountain (

w

), the reed leaf, the

t

-sign, thethrone in

Wsr

Osiris, and the city-sign; red for the conical loaf (

d

),

my

, the hand (

d

), the vertical stroke in

dw

Busiris, and the foot (

b

)in

bw

Abydos; black and blue for Anubis on his shrine; red andblack for the profile head (

tpy

), red and blue for

sr

,

b

in

bw

, and

d

in

d

w

; green for th

9

It is curious thatthree-dimensional when architecturalexample, on tomb wdeceased to face the

might have been occeven by external fac

nately, the circumswas. Most of the Cand we must rely oreport (fortunately show the position o

It is simply a passagfrom four to six feetchambers. About thwhole width of the which is a third smaious qualities and shall in blue glaze

.

12

The stele of Shefound there were known)also of lim

9

I thank Patricia S. Griffilocating and identifying

10

See Henry George Fisc

Reversals

(New York, 19

11

Fischer (ibid., p. 25, nKingdom offering scene leads to the burial is at t

12

Cecil,

ASAE

6, p. 276.


e basket (nb). the deceased faces left. The main figure in two- andrepresentations nearly always faces right except or other considerations dictate the reversefor

alls, where the overriding consideration is for the entrance.

10 The leftward orientation of this figure

asioned by its placement in relation to the burial ortors, such as the proximity of a shrine.

11 Unfortu-

tances of the find do not enable us to say what thatecil Tombs, including no. 28, are now inaccessible,n Lady Cecils description of it in the excavation

accompanied by a plan, which does not, however,f the objects as found):

e measuring about fifty feet long and four feet wide, and high. At the end of the passage are two very small tombirty-six feet from the entrance and occupying nearly the

passage is a shaft about twenty feet deep, at the bottom ofll tomb-chamber. In the passage were found pottery of var-apes, and the remains of arrows with many beads nearly

mai was discovered at the bottom of the shaft. Alsoportions of another stele (present location notestone, but inscribed in paint only, with remains of

n, Mellon Fellow in Objects Conservation, for her assistance inthe pigments.her, Egyptian Studies II: The Orientation of Hieroglyphs, Part 1:77), pp. 346, esp. pp. 2126, and fig. 42 on p. 40.. 64), cites as an example tomb 34 at Aswan, in which the Newat the back faces left, perhaps because the cult chamber whichhe right.


98

the artists guide lines in redinscribed with a

hotep-di-nesu

formulafor a woman named Muthetpet and also mentioning [the overseer of]po[lice], Shemai.

13

Although the excavators claim to have most care-fully sifted the sand of every fragment, they never found the missingportions of either stele.

14

The tombs at Qubbet el-Hawa date mainly from the Old and Middle

Kingdoms.

15

The objects that entered the Amherst collection, however,mostly come from intrusive burials of the late New Kingdom to Romanperiods.

16

In the Amherst sale catalogue the stele of Shemai is dated tomid-Dynasty 18. The offering formula alone would suggest a date in thefirst half of Dynasty 12, according to the criteria established byBennet.

17

Cooney daobvious dependance

Freed is more precisof Sesostris I.

19

Threcently discovered lels.

20

Features in

13

Ibid., p. 277; PM 5, p. 2

14

Cecil,

ASAE

6, p. 276.

15

Elmar Edel, Qubbet e

16

Amherst sale, lots 12 riod shawabtis), 29 (shawure), 340 (coffin panels), 3(amulets), 590 (amulets),of the Old Kingdom (rava19 and 24, along with a

ASAE

4, pp. 6061, 66, 73en of Sesostris I (Cecil,

A

Shells of Se

n-Wosret I,

p. 391). Tomb 20 containstone stele has been dat36420; ibid., pl. V; Rita EReign of Amenemhet I,

in Honor of Dows Dunha

William Kelly Simpson a

17

J.C. Bennett, Growth

(1941), pp. 7782.

18

CMA curatorial files.nonetheless in view of thdeceptive) archaism backAhmose and Early Eighte

19

Rita E. Freed, The DeDynasty XI, with an Appediss., New York Univers

20

Jean-Pierre Corteggian

1987), no. 33; Werner Kaibericht,

MDAIK

44 (198

il of stele of

06 BERMAN Page 98 Thursday, July 22, 2004 12:38 PMted the stele to Dynasty 12, probably, in view of its on Old Kingdom work, to very early Dynasty 12.

18

e and assigns it, to my mind correctly, to the reigne limestone pillar of Sesostris I from Karnak andreliefs at Elephantine Island afford the closest paral-common, as pointed out by Freed, include the

41.

l Hawa, L 5, col. 54 with bibliography.(Third Intermediate period shawabtis), 14 (Third Intermediate pe-abtis), 40 (shawabtis), 59 (shawabtis), 65 (Ptah-Sokar-Osiris fig-41 (coffin), 342 (coffin), 465 (beadwork shroud and amulets), 576

718 (scarab of Ramesses II). Tomb 15 contained an original burialged by termites); more Old Kingdom pottery was found in tombscylinder inscribed with the prenomen of Amenemhat III (Cecil,). Two tombs contained oyster shells inscribed with the prenom-

SAE 4, pp. 68, 72; the first is Cairo JE 36398, H. E. Winlock, PearlStudies Presented to F.Ll. Griffith [London, 1932], pl. 62, no. 1; cf.ed the intact burial of Mesenus son Heqaib, whose painted lime-ed on stylistic grounds to the reign of Amenemhat I (Cairo JE. Freed, A Private Stela from Naga ed-Der and Relief Style of the in Studies in Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, and the Sudan: Essaysm on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday, June 1, 1980, edited bynd Whitney M. Davis [Boston, 1981], p. 76 and fig. 7 on p. 71). of the tp-d-nsw Formula in the Middle Kingdom, JEA 27

The Dynasty 18 date, though clearly mistaken, is interestinge early Eighteenth Dynastys deliberate (and frequently even now to Dynasty 12, discussed by James F. Romano, A Relief of Kingenth Dynasty Archaism, BES 5 (1983), pp. 10315.velopment of Middle Kingdom Relief: Sculptural Schools of Latendix on the Trends of Early Dynasty XII (20401878 B.C.), Ph.D.

ity, 1984, pp. 21213. i, The Egypt of the Pharaohs at the Cairo Museum (London,ser et al., Stadt und Tempel von Elephantine: 15./16. Grabungs-8), pl. 52.

Fig. 3. Quail chick. DetaShemai, CMA 21.1017.

Lawrence M. Berman,


b

perfectly almond-shaped eye with short diagonal line at the inner can-thus, the modeling of the jawbone in relief, and incipient double chin.

21

Aswan was the scene of great activity under Sesostris I: the king rebuiltthe main temple of Satis, lady of Elephantine, and his nomarchSarenput I the shrine of the deified Heqaib.

22

21

Sesostris I's double chin is commented on by C. Vandersleyen, Objectvit des portraitsgyptiens,

BSFE

73 (1975), p. 9.

22

See Labib Habachi, Building Activities of Sesostris I in the Area to the South ofThebes,

MDAIK

31 (1975), pp. 2731; Wolfgang Schenkel, Die Bauinschrift Sesostris' I.im Satet-Tempel von Elephantine,

MDAIK

31 (1975), pp. 10925, pls. 3339; WolfgangHelck, Die Weihinschrift Sesostris' I. am Satet-Tempel von Elephantine,

MDAIK

34(1978), pp. 6978; Habachi,

Heqaib

, nos. 910, pp. 36-39; Kaiser et al.,

MDAIK

44, pp. 15257.

Fig. 4. Owl. Detail of stele of Shemai, CMA 21.1017.


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