Stele of Chaywet

Dateca. 2250 - 2000 B.C.

Label TextThe figure on the left side of this grave marker, or stele, is the courtier Chaywet, who lived late in the third millennium B.C. Tables piled high with funerary offerings are depicted on this stele, which was placed in Chaywet's tomb to ensure that he would have enough food and drink in the afterlife. Images are not the only sustenance provided for Chaywet-the stele's inscription, framing the main scene with colorful hieroglyphs, prays for his further nourishment in the afterlife: "An offering given by the king and by Osiris, Lord of Busiris, First of the Westerners, that there may go forth at the voice bread and beer for the Count and Sole Companion, Chaywet." Learn more about Chaywet and his tomb, the afterlife, art and writing, royal and provincial art, and the human form in Egyptian art by visiting seattleartmuseum.org.

This object is a memorial stele, carved over 4000 years ago, about the year 2250 BC, during the period known as the Old Kingdom in Egypt. The stele is meant to memorialize forever a man named Chaywet. Depicted on the left, Chaywet faces inscriptions and images of food that were to accompany him eternally, which is why they are carved in stone.

Object number47.64

Provenance[Hagop Kevorkian, New York]; partial purchase and partial gift (1/3 of purchase price) from Mr. Kevorkian to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, with funds From Thomas D. Stimson Memorial Collection, March 13, 1947

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

An offering given… for the Count and Sole Companion, Chaywet.

Inscription on <i>Stele of Chaywet</i>

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Images of Immortality, December 2, 1988Published ReferencesTeeter, Emily, Egyptian Art in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1988, no. 4, p. 9 Teeter, Emily. "Ancient Art of the Mediterranean and the Near East." In Selected Works, pp. 29-32. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 31, reproduced. Teeter, Emily. "The Egyptian Collection of the Seattle Art Museum." KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, vol. 12, no. 3 (Fall 2001): reproduced p. 26. Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures, London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 52

Credit LineThomas D. Stimson Memorial Collection and partial gift of Hagop Kevorkian

Dimensions22 x 27 x 5 3/4 in. (55.9 x 68.6 x 14.6 cm)

MediumLimestone and pigment