WALTERS-EG
Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · statue
Ankh-ef-en-Sekhmet Entertained by a Harpist
Description
<p>Late Period interest in the past is clearly demonstrated in this work, whose composition, clothing, and poses all recall Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom works. Details such as the crisp precision of the carving and the presence of personal names date the piece to the Late Period. It shows its owners, Ankh-ef-en-Sekhmet and his wife Hathor-em-hat, to the viewer's left. Their daughter, with close-cropped hair, kneels at center. The three are entertained by a harpist named Psamtik-seneb, who "plays the harp for the good of their spirits everyday." The harpist's name means "may King Psamtik be healthy." The tomb from which this relief came was located in Saqqara, the necropolis (cemetery) of Memphis, an important center for the worship of the goddesses Sakhmet and Hathor, whose names are incorporated into the tomb owners' names.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/22.38' rel='external'>Ankh-ef-en-Sekhmet Entertained by a Harpist</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>
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 carved limestone relief shows two seated figures and an attendant holding an instrument-like object, set within an Egyptian funerary/ritual scene field of hieroglyphs.
The artifact is a rectangular limestone relief panel, now largely cleaned but with some edge chips and fragmentary losses. The center is occupied by a large, attended figure holding or presenting an implement associated with the seated harpist theme; on the right a seated musician/harpist figure is depicted holding a harp-like frame or strings, while the left side includes figures in offering or ritual postures. Multiple vertical columns and registers of hieroglyphs fill the upper portion and right side, though the majority of characters are too worn/fragmentary in this image to transcribe reliably. No clearly legible cartouche or full royal titulary is visible. Traces of red paint are noted by the catalogue, and small color remnants are not consistently confirmable from this photo, so paint is treated as only partially visible.
religious
unknown
fragmentary
Materials
carved limestonetraces of red paint (not clearly verifiable in image; noted as per catalogue)
Signs
hieroglyphic text (unreadable fragments) ×50
Inscriptions (3)
Inscription #1
English description
Inscriptions above each of the figures identify the person depicted:
Inscription #2
English description
[Translation] ""Priest of Sekhmet of the Acacia Tree, Priest of Ptah: Ankh-ef-en-Sekhmet,"" ""his wife: Hathor-em-hat,"" ""his beloved daughter Ta-(net)-Nefertem,"" and the harpist and ""singer Psamtik-seneb,"" who is ""plucking the harp for your""
Inscription #3
English description
[i.e. Ankh-ef-en-Sekhmet's] ""Ka"" (life force) ""everyday.""
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 22.38 tier-2
- Walters-id 34069 tier-2
Similar inscriptions · by content embedding
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (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.