Relief from the False Door of Khentenka

Place of OriginEgypt, reportedly from Giza, Tomb chapel of Khent-en-ka

Date5th Dynasty (2498–2345 BCE)

DimensionsH: 55 1/2 in. (141 cm); W: 13 in. (33 cm)

MediumLimestone with paint.

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1925.524

On View

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

DescriptionThis panel (1925.524) and its flanking counterpart (1925.523) formed the two vertical sides of a false door from the tomb chapel of Khentenka. Carved in raised relief, this limestone slab shows Khentenka standing and facing inward, holding a long staff in one hand and a folded cloth in the other. Three vertical columns of hieroglyphs accompany the figure, offering prayers to Anubis for a good burial, a long life, and eternal offerings.

Label TextThese two limestone panels once flanked a false door in the tomb chapel of Khentenka, an elite official of Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty (circa 2500–2400 BCE). False doors were a standard feature of mastaba tombs, serving as symbolic thresholds through which the spirit (ka) of the deceased could pass between the worlds of the living and the dead. Carved with images of Khentenka and hieroglyphic prayers to Anubis—the god of embalming—these panels invoked a continuous flow of offerings to nourish the spirit for eternity. The inscriptions also affirm Khentenka’s courtly rank as “one who is over the secrets of the private cabinet of the King,” suggesting his trusted access to royal affairs.Published References

Hayes, William C. The Scepter of Egypt, New York: Harper and Bros. with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1953, vol. I, p. 90-94, figs. 53 and 49.

Luckner, Kurt T. "The Art of Egypt, Part I." Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 14, no. 1, Spring 1971, p. 10 -11, repr. figs. 9 & 10.

Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, p. 36, repr. (col.) p. 37.

Exhibition History

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