Sunk Relief of Queen Neferu
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About this Brooklyn Icon
The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.
These two limestone reliefs depict the ladies Inw and Henut, two hairdressers who are styling the locks of queen Neferu. Together these fragmented blocks form a dynamic and intimate image, showing the most powerful woman in Egypt in a humanizing personal moment.
Neferu was the principal wife of Montuhotep II, who unified Egypt at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. This hairdressing scene comes from her large and once highly decorated tomb at Deir el-Bahri, Thebes, where Montuhotep also built his mortuary temple. There are only a few surviving examples of these scenes of beautification, which depict elite and royal women of the early Middle Kingdom in moments of adornment. Here, it is possible that Neferu is being styled to perform for the goddess Hathor, who was associated with love, fertility, beauty, music, and the cult of Montuhotep.
Object Label
The Egyptians connected cosmetics and grooming with sexual allure, reproduction, and rebirth into the afterlife. Here, the royal hairdresser Henut winds an extension curl into the queen’s hair.
Caption
Sunk Relief of Queen Neferu, ca. 2008–1957 B.C.E.. Limestone, pigment, 7 1/2 x 9 5/16 x 3/4 in. (19 x 23.6 x 1.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 54.49. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 54.49_SL1.jpg)
Tags
Title
Sunk Relief of Queen Neferu
Date
ca. 2008–1957 B.C.E.
Dynasty
second part of Dynasty 11
Period
Middle Kingdom
Geography
Place made: Thebes (Deir el-Bahri), Egypt
Medium
Limestone, pigment
Classification
Dimensions
7 1/2 x 9 5/16 x 3/4 in. (19 x 23.6 x 1.9 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
54.49
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
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