Stela of the Woman Takhenemet
Description
Object Label: Although painted wooden stelae are known from just before Dynasty XVIII (circa 1539–1295 B.C.), they did not become common until Dynasty XXI (circa 1070–945 B.C.), at the outset of the Third Intermediate Period (circa 1070–653 B.C.). Thereafter they were popular until the end of the Ptolemaic Period (305–30 B.C.). These wooden stelae were often deposited inside the burial chamber out of public view. As on countless earlier stelae, the central scene usually shows the deceased making an offering to a deity, but on examples dating to the Third Intermediate Period the dead person makes the offering directly, without the assistance of another god. Here Takhenemet pays homage to the hawk-headed solar god Re-Horakhty, who has the guise and costume of Osiris, lord of the underworld. The composite representation illustrates well the merging of religious beliefs that occurred in the Third Intermediate Period with regard to the solar and nether realms. Caption: Egyptian. Stela of the Woman Takhenemet, ca. 775–653 B.C.E.. Wood, gesso, pigment, 10 3/4 x 9 7/16 x 13/16 in. (27.3 x 23.9 x 2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 08.480.201. (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.
A painted relief/stela fragment within a frame shows two standing figures facing inward before an altar-like scene, with winged or tall decorative elements and a central register containing hieroglyphic signs.
The image shows an object displayed in a glass frame. Within the central painted field is a rounded/arch-like panel containing two human figures in profile facing toward a central space. Both figures wear patterned garments and have elaborate headgear; one figure appears seated or stands at a left-hand lower register with an object resembling a tray or offering stand, while the right-hand figure raises an arm toward the central area. Above and between the figures is a vertical column of hieroglyphic signs and small colored decorative elements. At the bottom of the scene there is a band of color with horizontal stripes, suggesting a base or ground line. No clearly legible Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible. The carved/painted hieroglyphs are present but too small and stylized to confidently transcribe at this resolution. The deity identities are not unambiguous from the visible features alone, though the iconography suggests standard Egyptian funerary/religious figures and offering practice.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 08.480.201 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3248 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.