Stela of Pakhaas
Description
Object Label: The central vignette here features a unique combination of two types of stela illustration. Normally the deceased is shown offering to Osiris, lord of the underworld, or to another deity. Alternatively, the deceased and his or her spouse receive offerings from their family. At first glance, the stela seems to fit the second category. The dead person, Pakhaas, accompanied by his wife, Nesihor, who stands behind him holding a sistrum, or rattle, enjoys the oblations of his son, Pakhy (a nickname, in effect, Pakhaas, Jr.). This scene, however, is hardly conventional. Pakhy’s censer and Nesihor’s sistrum rarely appear in scenes of offerings to humans, and Pakhaas is not depicted as a mortal. The small image of the god Osiris that sits on his knees suggests that Pakhaas has become that god. Pakhy thus becomes Horus, who offers to his dead father, Osiris, and Nesihor is Isis. Caption: Stela of Pakhaas, 2nd–1st century B.C.E.. Limestone, pigment, 14 3/4 x 10 5/8 x 1 5/8 in. (37.5 x 27 x 4.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 71.37.2. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
Painted limestone stela showing two standing Egyptian gods/figures flanking a central standing seated/bound offering register, with extensive hieroglyphic text above and below.
The object is a rectangular limestone stela with a curved top. In the upper register, a painted scene shows multiple figures/forms around a central figure or deity, framed by a shallow arch painted in red. Below, two large standing human-like figures face toward the center. The left figure wears a tall crown/headgear and extends one arm forward, while the right figure also has a crown/headpiece and extends an arm toward an offering or central symbol area. Between and behind the figures are painted elements including a seated or platform-like shape and red decorative/ritual motifs. The surface contains dense hieroglyphic inscriptions in horizontal lines across both the middle panel and the lower field. No clearly legible cartouche or royal titulary is readable at this resolution; specific sign groups cannot be securely identified.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 71.37.2 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3801 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.