Stela of Steward Ptahemsai
Description
Object Label: Wealthy Egyptians sometimes commissioned unique stelae with representations specific to their personal needs and wishes, but most people could not afford such custom-made funerary equipment. Instead, they selected uninscribed stock pieces with standard representations of men, women, and offerings and had the names of individual family members added after purchase. The owner of this stela held a position comparable to that of a modern butler or house manager. His socioeconomic position suggests that this example was an “off-the-rack” model. Caption: Stela of Steward Ptahemsai, ca. 1876–1759 B.C.E.. Limestone, 20 1/4 x 11 13/16 x 3 1/8 in. (51.5 x 30 x 8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1345E. (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.
Limestone stela with hieroglyphic inscriptions and seated figures.
This rectangular limestone stela features engraved hieroglyphic inscriptions arranged in horizontal registers. The composition includes seated human figures, possibly depicting deities or individuals engaged in funerary rituals. The style is characteristic of ancient Egyptian art with clear hieroglyphic symbols and distinct human forms.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1345E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4137 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.