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Funerary cone of Amenemopet

Egyptian
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18–20
1550–1070 B.C.

Medium/Technique Pottery
Dimensions Height x diameter:3.1 x 8.6 cm (1 1/4 x 3 3/8 in.)
Credit Line Hay Collection—Gift of C. Granville Way
Accession Number72.1798
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsArchitectural elements

Catalogue Raisonné Davies & MacAdam 186
DescriptionFunerary cone fragment of pinkish-buff clay with tapering cone element broken off and missing. Circular stamp on head with three columns of hieroglyphic text identifying the owner. Lower half of stamped impression somewhat worn.

Translation of text:
"Chamberlain
Amenemopet
True-of-Voice with Osiris"

Transliteration:
imy-r a-Xnwty
Imn-m-ipt
mAa xrw xr Wsir

Funerary cones were components of a frieze, inserted above the doors of private tombs, particularly in the Theban region. They have been variously interpreted as: name-plates of sorts to identify the tomb owner, decorative memorials, boundary markers for a tomb, dummy bread loaves or meat offerings, symbolic roof beams, or (for the visible circular head) depictions of the sun disk.

Davies and Macadam, A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones (1957), type #186.

ProvenanceBy 1836: Robert Hay Collection, Linplum, Scotland; 1863: to his son, Robert James Alexander Hay; 1868-1872: Way Collection, Boston (purchased by Samuel A. Way through London dealers Rollin and Feuardent, 27 Haymarket); 1872: given to the MFA by Samuel's son, C. Granville Way.
(Accession date: June 28, 1872)