Relief Blocks from the Tomb of the Vizier Nespeqashuty

Description

Object Label: The vizier was the highest-ranking governmental official in ancient Egypt. His duties included overseeing the administration of the country by supervising, for example. the bureaucracies that dealt with land management, tax collection, and judicial affairs. It appears that in the Old Kingdom the task became so formidable that separate viziers were created for the northern and southern parts of the country this division seems to have continued throughout the remainder of ancient Egyptian history. Nespeqashuty was vizier, presumably of Upper Egypt, during the reign of Psamtik I, first king of Dynasty XXVI, and may also have served as such under Tanwetamani, last king of Dynasty XXV. For an unknown reason, rather than building a new tomb for himself, he expropriated and rebuilt an older tomb from Dynasty XI. Built high on a cliff face at Thebes, the tomb commanded a sweeping view of the Theban necropolis and was situated just above an important processional route. In addition to remodeling the tomb's courtyard, Nespeqashuty decorated the tomb with reliefs which had to be fashioned in freshly hewn stone and attached to the tomb walls because the tomb's own stone was too poor to be carved. The reliefs from his tomb that are shown here compare favorably with those from the tomb of Montuemhat, one of his contemporaries. Caption: Relief Blocks from the Tomb of the Vizier Nespeqashuty, ca. 664–610 B.C.E.. Limestone, 40 9/16 x 63 3/8 in. (103 x 161 cm) 52.131.1a: 9 3/4 x 19 3/8 in. (24.8 x 49.2 cm) 52.131.1b: 9 3/4 x 14 3/4 in. (24.8 x 37.5 cm) 52.131.1c: 9 5/8 x 17 in. (24.4 x 43.2 cm) 52.131.1d: 16 1/2 x 25 in. (41.9 x 63.5 cm) 52.131.1e: 16 7/16 x 10 15/16 in. (41.8 x 27.8 cm) 52.131.1f: 16 3/8 x 18 in. (41.6 x 45.7 cm) 52.131.1g: 14 5/16 x 23 3/8 in. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.131.1a-i. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)