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Ceiling block with rosette pattern

Nubian
Kerma
Findspot: Nubia (Sudan), Kerma, Tomb XI

Medium/Technique Sandstone and Faience
Dimensions Overall: 49 x 79.2 x 10.5 cm (19 5/16 x 31 3/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
Credit Line Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Accession Number13.4360.2
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsArchitectural elementsRelief

DescriptionThe stars are set into a large sandstone backgrond which would have decorated the ceiling in one of the burial chapels of a king from Kerma. It is inlaid with reused fragments of greenish, blue Egyptian faience which are arranged in a pattern of rosettes that symbolize the stars in the sky. This block includes 2 complete and 4 incomplete "stars" and is related to ceiling block 13.4360.
ProvenanceFrom Tomb XI, Kerma. 1913: excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of Sudan.