Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · vessel

Model of Brewers, Bakers, and Butchers

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11–13, ca. 2030–1640 B.C. Wood, gesso, paint. l. 49 cm (19 5/16 in); w. 30 cm (11 13/16 in). From: Meir, Middle Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Khashaba excavations, 1910–11. Subject: Men, Working, Bakers, Butchers. Credit: Rogers Fund, 1911.

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.

Painted wooden model shows multiple human-like figures working at craft/food-production activities with various jars, containers, and sacks laid out in a rectangular tray.

The artifact appears to be a shallow, rectangular wooden base (tray) with raised or embedded areas holding numerous painted items. Several small figures with brown/red skin tones wear simple garments and are shown in seated or standing working postures. They interact with large round and rectangular containers/jars painted red and cream, as well as smaller bins or bundles. To the right, a pile of dark-and-light speckled contents (possibly meal/material) lies on a stepped or inclined surface; one figure appears to be handling material near the pile. The left/center area includes stacked or grouped containers, with one figure seated behind a small reddish jar and another bending over containers. No clear carved hieroglyphs or inscriptions are visible on the base in this image. No cartouches, royal names, or deity iconography can be confidently identified from the visible features; the figures are generic workers rather than clear specific gods. Materials visible include wood (base and some structural parts), gesso/white surface preparation on the tray and figures, and paint (notably reds, creams, and dark spots). The image does not show Greek/Coptic/Arabic text.

daily life Middle Kingdom (as catalogued); image does not provide datable textual evidence good
Materials woodgessopaint

Connections

Found at Meir
Materials WoodPaintGesso

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116243480 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 11.150.12 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 555953 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • 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.