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Pair Statue of Userhat and Kha, New Kingdom, late 18th-early 19th Dynasty (1319 - 1306 BCE)
Granite
21 x 11 in. (53.34 x 27.94 cm)
47.8.34
William Randolph Hearst Collection
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This statue of a seated couple, Userhat, King's scribe and overseer of the granaries at Thebes (modern day Luxor), and his wife, Kha, are identified by the hieroglyphic text inscribed on their laps. An inscription on the front of Userhat's kilt describes him as "Royal Scribe of the Granary." The elegant garments and the naturalistic rendering of Userhat's torso suggest a late 18th or early 19th dynasty date. In a gesture of affection, the outline of Kha's hand appears wrapped around Userhat's left arm. The inscription on the statue also expresses their wish to take part in "everything which comes forth from upon the offering table fo Amun of the City [Thebes]... ”

A visitor to Karnak temple about a century after Userhat and Kha placed their statue in the temple attempted to make the statue his by carving an inscription on the blank sections of the statue. His inscription reads, "Giving plant offerings and incense by the wab priest Pawenhatweser, Son of Ip, his wife, the Lady of the House, Fekar.An offering which the king gives to Nut, that she may give all life and all health to Pawenhatwesir." This inscription can be roughly dated to the Late Period of ancient Egyptian history by Pawenhatwesir's name, which was a common name at that time.

Temples in ancient Egypt were more than places where the gods were worshiped, they represented sacred spaces where the rituals conducted by the priests and the offerings given by worshipers ensured the continual rebirth of the sun each morning in the east. Since temples represented the houses of the gods on earth, ancient Egyptians who could afford to do so often had statues of themselves set up in temple spaces. These statues were meant to represent a perpetual devotional offering to the god of the temple, and also allowed those represented in the statues to take part in the rituals performed and daily offerings made to the temple. Userhat and Kha originally donated the statue to the temple hoping to benefit from such offerings and religious rituals of the temple, and Pawenhatwesir later carved his inscription on the statue for the same purpose.

As one of the largest temples in ancient Egypt, the great Temple of Amun at Karnak (located near modern day Luxor) received many devotional gifts such as statues like the statue of Userhat and Kha, to be set up within its walls. Over the centuries of worship at Karnak's temple, the number of such statues continued to grow, until eventually the kings of the Ptolemaic Period chose to clear out statues of long forgotten donors in order to make room for new statues being offered. Although it was necessary to create more room in the temple, these statues were still considered sacred objects, and so the ancient Egyptians did not destroy them. Instead, they buried them in a pit within the sacred space of the temple where they lay undiscovered until the early twentieth century when they were uncovered by archaeologists excavating at Karnak. LACMA's statue of Userhat and Kha likely came from this discovery, known as the Karnak cachette. (Amber Myers Wells)

Coffin, mid-21st Dynasty (about 1000 - 968 BCE)
Wood, overlaid with gesso and polychrome decoration and yellow varnish
Base: 73 3/4 x 21 1/2 x 13 in. (187.33 x 54.61 x 33.02 cm); Outer Lid: 74 1/4 x 21 3/4 x 14 in. (188.59 x 55.24 x 35.56 cm); Inner Lid: 69 1/8 x 16 5/8 x 4 1/4 in. (175.58 x 42.23 x 10.79 cm)
M.47.3a-c
Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. John Jewett Garland
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This sarcophagus, or coffin, including a base, lid, and mummy board, dates to the middle of the Twenty-first Dynasty (c. 1000-968 BC). The high priests of Amun at Thebes assumed rule over Egypt in the Twenty-first Dynasty, and a number of changes took place in funerary customs. Beginning during the Old Kingdom (2687-2191 BC), tombs were built of permanent materials and the interior walls of the tombs were decorated with scenes of daily life and funerary rituals.  They were also inscribed with texts to further ensure that the deceased would travel from life into the afterlife, as well as to provide sustenance for the deceased in the afterlife. During the Twenty-first Dynasty, burials were made in plain underground chambers or rock crevices, and the surface of the coffin served as the replacement surface for the ornate scenes and texts previously found on the walls of the tombs.

This type of sarcophagus is known as an anthropoid coffin. It is made of sycamore wood and shaped in the form of a human outline. The head, hands, and feet are modeled in high relief. The figure’s plaited beard, also a reference to the god Osiris, most likely identifies it as a male’s coffin. The space in the inscription on the lid’s footboard that would have been reserved for the name of the coffin’s owner has been left blank, leaving his identity a mystery.

The sarcophagus and the process of mummification were central to ancient Egyptians’ beliefs about the afterlife. According to Egyptian belief, the sun god Re descends into the underworld when the sun sets. Protective deities help him overcome the dangers threatening to impede his path to rebirth at dawn. The Egyptians believed that in the afterlife, the pharaohs became one with Re and were likewise reborn with him at sunrise. While only the pharaohs journeyed with Re through the nighttime hours, all Egyptians faced the same dangers on their journey to the afterlife. Instructions for the elaborate preparations necessary to safe passage from life into the afterlife were found in the Book of the Dead.

When a ruler or a well-to-do Egyptian died, his or her body was embalmed and wrapped in linen in order to keep the deceased looking as much like the living body as possible, enabling the person’s spirit (ka) to recognize and return to the body for the afterlife. This process, called mummification, associated the deceased with Osiris, the god of the underworld. As a precaution against the disintegration of the deceased’s face, a substitute face was provided by depicting the face of the deceased on the coffin and also representing it on the inner lid (the mummy board). The other images on this sarcophagus are from the Book of the Dead. A number of deities are shown assisting the deceased on his or her voyage. By depicting images from the Book of the Dead in tombs, on papyri (paper made from the papyrus plant), and on sarcophagi, the Egyptians believed they could help produce the desired result—a successful voyage to the afterlife. (Jennifer Miller & Rebecca Krasner, ed. Sara Cody)

Because the writing of hieroglyphs was considered a sacred act, ancient Egyptians believed that Thoth, the Egyptian god of intelligence and writing, presided over the scribes. Thoth was represented as either an ibis or a baboon. Ibis are wading birds distinguished by their long, slender, downward-curving bills, and ibis were frequently mummified and offered to Thoth as a gift of prayer. More than four million mummified ibis have been discovered in Egypt; tens of thousands were found in the ibis catacombs at Saqqara, an ancient necropolis just south of Cairo and west of the ancient city of Memphis.

This ibis image was probably attached to a staff in order to create a standard (a type of banner) that would have been carried by priests or government officials in religious processions or parades. Very few examples of processional standards survive, although their importance in public processions is demonstrated in illustrations on Egyptian monuments and sculpture. This standard dates to the Late Period (712 – 332 BC). Although the standard seems flat, it was designed as a three-dimensional object. The skill of the artist who created this bronze is evident in the elegance of the outline and contour and the attention to detail. Late Period bronze production reached its peak during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664 – 525 BC), a likely date for this object.

In ancient Egypt, the gods had specific roles in the journey of the dead to the afterlife, just as symbols of the gods had a role in the ceremonies and rituals of the living. On the side of the sarcophagus on display in our Egyptian gallery, Thoth is shown with Anubis in the Weighing of the Heart, a scene from the Book of the Dead. Egyptians believed that many gods bore animal traits, so gods were often represented either as animals or as part animal, part human. (Gods that were feared or held in awe, for example, could be represented by lions, crocodiles, or venomous snakes.) Anubis is the jackal-headed god who tends the mummy as an embalmer and who tests the balance of the deceased’s heart; Thoth (frequently depicted as either an ibis or a human with an ibis head on funerary papyri, tomb walls, and sarcophagi) records the results of the final judgment of the deceased. (Jennifer Miller & Rebecca Krasner, ed. Sara Cody)

Round-Topped Stela, Mid-18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep III, circa 1391 - 1353 BCE
Limestone
26 3/4 x 17 1/4 in. (67.95 x 43.82 cm)
AC1999.2.1
Purchased with funds provided by Phil Berg
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This stela, a flat slab of stone with a commemorative purpose, was created for Iuef-er-bak, who is depicted by the figure on the right and identified by the hieroglyphs at the top. The stela was carved during the reign of King Amenhotep III in the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1391-1353 B.C.). This stable and prosperous period is considered to represent the height of ancient Egyptian artistic production.

The stela was carved in sunk relief—the details are carved in recessed or sunken areas in varying levels of relief. The quality of the carving on this stela is exceptional for its attention to detail and its graceful contours. Notice the attention the artist gave to the facial features. The most important figures and details received the deepest carving. Originally, the entire surface of the stela was painted; now, only traces of pigment remain.

Iuef-er-bak, a noble from the capital city of Thebes, is identified by the hieroglyphs as “guardian of the store-house of the Temple of Amun.” His wife, Nebet-iunet, and two sons accompany him. Iuef-er-bak and his sons carry floral funerary offerings. These four figures are examples of the standard representation of figures among ancient Egyptian artists: the eyes and shoulders are shown frontally and the head and lower body are shown in profile, which Egyptian artists believed was the best way to provide a comprehensive view of the human body. The woman stands with her feet together, and the men stand with their feet apart. All four figures have a youthful appearance. Egyptian artists indicated relative degrees of importance using scale; here, in the lower register, seven additional family members, who are noticeably smaller than the figures above, participate in a funerary banquet.

The stela was probably made for the necropolis (city of the dead) of Western Thebes, where it would have been placed in the tomb of the deceased. The ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife was an actual physical existence that required sustenance, which the living provided through offerings. The deceased’s ka, the aspect of a person that could be represented in artistic form, needed life-preserving goods such as food and drink. In the afterlife, an individual’s ka dwelt within the mummy or the tomb statue.

Most stelae from this period were created to insure that the tomb owner would receive the offerings necessary to sustain him or her in the afterlife. This stela is unusual in that the text contains no direct request for funerary offerings, nor is there a depiction of the tomb owner and his family receiving offerings from a specific deity. The inclusion of the relatives and the biographical information on this stela may have served to ensure that family members and/or funerary priests would provide offerings forever. Representations of the deceased helped assure his or her survival. The name of the individual was also believed to be a vital aspect of the self that needed to be preserved. (Jennifer Miller & Rebecca Krasner, ed. Sara Cody)

This elegant, striding bronze figure represents the goddess Wadjet, protectress of the king and tutelary deity of Lower Egypt. One of several Egyptian goddesses depicted with the head of a lioness, Wadjet is identified in this example by the dedicatory inscription on the rectangular base. The preserved portion of the text also includes part of the donor's name and parentage. This figure probably was dedicated as an offering in a temple, and in addition may have served as a container for the remains of a sacred animal.

The figure is remarkably intact, displaying the full sun disc, uraeus (the sacred cobra on the headdress), inscribed base, and the tangs that attached the statuette to an ancient pedestal or other support. As in most similar examples, the attributes originally held by the hands, probably a papyrus scepter in the proper left hand and an ankh in the right, are now lost. Narrow-waisted, the human figure is treated in an exceptionally refined and supple manner, with contours of the breasts, abdomen, and thighs clearly visible beneath the thin garment. Incised details such as the patterning of the lion mane, broad collar, armbands, and bracelets are carefully rendered.

Technically proficient and formally sophisticated Late Period votive bronzes such as this example are generally attributed by scholars to the 26th Dynasty, although precise dating within the Late Period is difficult due to lack of stylistic variation and the omission of titles or references to royalty in the brief inscriptions. (Nancy Thomas)