Offering Table of Senwosret

Place of OriginEgypt

Date12th Dynasty (1991–1802 BCE)

DimensionsH: 18 1/2 in. (47 cm); W: 14 in. (35.6 cm); Depth: 3 in. (7.6 cm).

MediumLimestone.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1925.526

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionA rectangular limestone table featuring a carved relief of a large loaf of bread surrounded by offerings including onions, a goose, and an ox head. Four depressions for liquid offerings are connected by channels with an outlet. Libation jars flank the central relief. Decorative inscriptions run along the edges. The surface is powdery and partially exfoliated, especially over the bread and hieroglyphs.

Label TextEgyptian tombs included a chapel where a visitor could bring food to the dead. An offering table was placed before a “false door” through which the deceased’s spirit passed between this world and the afterlife. The offering table here depicts a loaf of bread and slender libation vases—containers for liquid offerings—as well as channels for the flowing liquid. Food and drink placed on the table were magically conveyed to the deceased’s ka (life force) beyond the door. The jambs of the false door recreated here include images of the deceased, Khent-en-ka, accompanied by a list of his official functions and his prayers to the gods. Between the jambs was usually a solid slab that could not be opened, sometimes pierced by a narrow window allowing one to see a statue of the deceased in the chamber beyond. Just above would be a sculpture of a rolled curtain and a stele, a relief carving of the seated tomb owner facing a rich variety of food and drink.Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, Oct. 29, 2010 - Jan. 8, 2012