A rectangular stone slab is painted with two large figures with medium-dark skin in profile, a man and a woman. Surrounding them are various food items, as well as a smaller male figure holding a large piece of meat. Across the top are hieroglyphics.

Stela of Amenemhat and Hemet

Ancient Egyptian

Middle Kingdom, early Dynasty 12, about 1956–1877 BCE

This stela was colored with a mixture of pigment and tempera. First, however, it was sculpted in raised and sunken relief; only later were some of its surfaces embellished with black, brown, green, yellow, and white paint. It commemorates for all eternity a man named Amenemhat and his wife, Hemet. Before them are two offering tables stacked with food. Their son appears in the upper right at a smaller scale. In addition to the hieroglyphs in the field, a brief text also appears on the top and right border.Egyptian art is highly symbolic. The left side of the composition is the dominant position; the placement there of Amenemhat and Hemet conveys their importance. He stands in front of his wife, stressing that he is the head of the household. The social difference between them is indicated by the color of their skin. His is dark reddish brown and hers is yellow; he is active outdoors, while the home is her realm. They both wear traditional clothing and jewelry.The goal of the artist was to immortalize the essential elements of his subjects. This representation reflects conventions for portraying the human form as a composite diagram made up of different views. Amenemhat and Hemet are shown with their heads in profile, their shoulders frontal, and their chests, buttocks, and legs in profile. These positions offered the most characteristic and comprehensive views of the human form. Also, depth is represented by height, so the offerings at the top of the composition should be understood as the farthest away.The brightly colored, raised-relief hieroglyphs within the scene record the names of the subjects, their lineage, and voice offerings, which refer to the belief that offerings could consist of actual food, images of food, written references to it, or the recitation of prayers that call for provisions. Carved in sunken relief and painted blue, hieroglyphs along the top and right record a conventional prayer for food to sustain Amenemhat and Hemet in the afterlife.

Title Stela of Amenemhat and Hemet
Artist Ancient Egyptian
Date Middle Kingdom, early Dynasty 12, about 1956–1877 BCE
Medium Limestone and pigment
Style twelfth dynasty
Dimensions 31.1 × 41.7 × 6.7 cm (12 1/4 × 16 3/8 × 2 5/8 in.)

About Ancient Egyptian

Egyptian civilization formed in northern Africa along the banks of the Nile River over six thousand years ago. The region’s artists and artisans were highly trained in a visual vocabulary that endured for thousands of years—and which continues to influence artistic and architectural forms to this day. Although these ancient artists rarely signed their work, their talents were highly regarded, as evidenced by the images on the walls of many tombs depicting artists and craftsmen sculpting and polishing statues, producing intricate jewelry, and carving wooden furniture, among other artistic pursuits. The artworks they produced served a range of functions—given as gifts to their gods as acts of worship, placed in tombs to aid the dead in the afterlife, and used in daily life.

Draftsmen, sculptors, and painters usually worked in teams attached to the royal court or one of Egypt’s many temples. They sometimes lived in distinct workmen’s villages, such as Deir el-Medina in modern Luxor, likely where a skilled artist produced the Sketch of a King, the Art Institute's oldest drawing. These teams used a system of proportion and style that gave ancient Egyptian art its iconic look, but also allowed for innovation and the creation of exceptional works.

In 1890 the Art Institute became the first Chicago museum to acquire an ancient Egyptian artifact: the Ushabti (Funerary Figurine) of Horudja. What is now the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum soon followed, forming collections of their own and establishing Chicago as a center for studying ancient Egypt in the United States. Today the Art Institute’s collection includes works that span the entirety of ancient Egyptian history—from about 4000 BCE to the first centuries CE. The museum’s holdings showcase ancient Egyptians’ mastery of many media and forms, including stone sculpture, copper alloy statuettes, faience figurines, gold amulets, wooden coffins, and painted cartonnage mummy masks.