Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian) · relief_fragment
Lintel Fragment Depicting Iniuia and Iuy Worshipping Deities
Description
This lintel fragment depicts a couple kneeling with their hands raised in an Egyptian gesture of praise, worshipping the funerary deities Osiris and Isis. It once crowned a doorway in the tomb chapel of Iniuia, a high-ranking official who served under King Tutankhamun, and his wife, Iuy. Hieroglyphs separating the couple from the gods state that they are praising Osiris so that he will give them the “sweet breath” they need to thrive in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptian religion required worshippers to perform acts of devotion toward gods and goddesses in order to receive their favors. Here, that devotion is captured in stone, guaranteeing that Iniuia and Iuy will benefit from it forever.
Inscriptions (1)
Inscription #1
English description
"Giving praise to Osiris, kissing the earth for Wenenefer, so that he might give sweet breath to the scribe of the silver- and gold-treasuries of the Lord of the Two Lands Iniuia, true of voice, and his wife (lit. sister), the mistress of the house Iuy, favored by Hathor the msitress of the sycamore."
Cross-references (1)
- ARTIC-id 121774 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian).
- 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.