Stela of Amenemhat and Yatu
Middle Kingdom, late Dynasty 12–early Dynasty 13, about 1870–1770 BCE
- Medium
- Limestone and pigment
- Classification
- Architectural fragment
- Dimensions
- 62.3 × 45.8 × 9.6 cm (24 1/2 × 18 × 3 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- Egypt
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Africa
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This round-topped stela (or commemorative monument) depicts a mother and son surrounded by the objects they hoped to use in the afterlife. The mother, Yatu, and her son, Amenemhat, sit in chairs with oversized cosmetic containers placed underneath. The distinctive flared shape of the white and red vessel beneath Yatu indicates that it holds ointment. Under Amenemhat’s seat, a thin, white applicator sticks out of a blue jar containing eye paint called kohl. The vessel’s color suggests that it is carved out of anhydrite, a fashionable choice for cosmetic vessels during the Middle Kingdom period when this mother and son lived.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
