Stela of Ba
Description
Object Label: The owner of this funerary stela, a man named Ba, is shown sitting in front of an offering table and sniffing a lotus while receiving a libation. According to the text, the stela was a gift, presumably from Ba’s son, Mes, who is depicted between his parents. Because the image of Ba is in the center, the right side of the composition is so crowded that the female attendant seems to be pouring liquid onto Ba’s feet. Her extreme slenderness is typical of early Dynasty 18 figures. Caption: Stela of Ba, ca. 1539–1425 B.C.E.. Limestone, 15 3/8 × 9 3/8 × 2 1/4 in. (39 × 23.8 × 5.7 cm) mount (m2 display dims): 16 × 10 × 2 1/2 in. (40.6 × 25.4 × 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Jack A. Josephson in honor of Bernard V. Bothmer, 85.113. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A carved stone stele depicting four figures and hieroglyphic inscriptions.
The artifact is a stone stele featuring relief carvings of four standing human figures, likely deities or significant individuals, with hieroglyphic inscriptions above and below them. The figures are stylized with traditional Egyptian iconography and are adorned with various headpieces and garments. The surrounding inscriptions contain detailed hieroglyphs, suggesting a commemorative or ritualistic purpose. The overall composition is balanced, with careful attention to detail in the figures' postures and attire.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 85.113 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3917 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.