Lintel Fragment Depicting Iniuia and Iuy Worshipping Deities

New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Tutankhamun (about 1336–1327 BCE)

Egyptian; Tomb of Iniuia and Iuy, Saqqara, Egypt

This lintel fragment depicts a couple kneeling with their hands raised in an Egyptian gesture of praise, worshipping the funerary deities Osiris and Isis. It once crowned a doorway in the tomb chapel of Iniuia, a high-ranking official who served under King Tutankhamun, and his wife, Iuy. Hieroglyphs separating the couple from the gods state that they are praising Osiris so that he will give them the “sweet breath” they need to thrive in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptian religion required worshippers to perform acts of devotion toward gods and goddesses in order to receive their favors. Here, that devotion is captured in stone, guaranteeing that Iniuia and Iuy will benefit from it forever.

Status: On View, Gallery 50
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Ancient Egyptian
Title: Lintel Fragment Depicting Iniuia and Iuy Worshipping Deities
Place: Egypt (Object made in)
Date: Made 1336 BCE–1327 BCE
Medium: Limestone and pigment
Inscriptions: "Giving praise to Osiris, kissing the earth for Wenenefer, so that he might give sweet breath to the scribe of the silver- and gold-treasuries of the Lord of the Two Lands Iniuia, true of voice, and his wife (lit. sister), the mistress of the house Iuy, favored by Hathor the msitress of the sycamore."
Dimensions: 24.8 × 71.1 × 10.8 cm (9 3/4 × 28 × 2 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Henry H. Getty, Charles L. Hutchinson, and Robert H. Fleming
Reference Number: 1894.246
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Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1923), p. 41-42 (ill.).
Bertha Porter and Rosalind L.B. Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. III2. Memphis. Part 2. Saqqara to Dahshur, 2nd ed. (Griffith Institute/Ashmolean Museum, 1981), p. 707.
William Kelly Simpson, “A Shawabti Box Lid of the Chief Steward Nia (Iniuya) Acquired by General Jean-Joseph Tarayre,” Bulletin de l’institut français d’archéologie orientale 81.1 (1981), pp. 236, 238.
Hans D. Schneider et al., “The Tomb of Iniuia: Preliminary Report on the Saqqara Excavations, 1993,” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 79 (1993), pp. 4, 6n8.
Hans D. Schneider, The Tomb of Iniuia in the New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis at Saqqara (Brepols, 2012), p. 79 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 154A, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, When the Greeks Ruled: Egypt After Alexander the Great, October 31, 2013 - July 27, 2014.
Art Institute of Chicago, Life and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, Feb. 11, 2022 - present.

The Art Institute of Chicago, acquired in 1894; price reimbursed by Henry H. Getty, Charles L. Hutchinson, and Robert H. Fleming.

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