False Door

2350-2170 BCE

Details

Title: False Door
Date Created: 2350-2170 BCE
Location Created: Saqqara (uncertain), Egypt
Physical Dimensions: 133 cm
External Link: Penn Museum online collection
Medium: Limestone
Object Number: E14318
Descriptive Note: This false door came from the tomb chapel of Irty-Ptah. He was a priest of Ptah and a Scribe of Divine Offering in the Temple of Ptah at Memphis. On the central panel, the deceased is shown seated before a table of offerings. The text is a standard funerary inscription invoking the funerary gods Osiris and Anubis. The inscriptions also list the name and titles of the deceased. In both lower corners, Irty-Ptah is shown with a walking staff and a scepter of authority. The Egyptians believed that the ka (or life force) of the individual could magically pass through this doorway and partake of food offerings left in front of it.
Credit Line: Purchased from Ismail Abdallah El-Shaer, 1923

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