Model of a River Boat

Arts of Africa

Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11–12 (about 2046–1794 BCE)

Egyptian

In the Middle Kingdom, tomb paintings and statues were often supplemented with wooden models. This boat is fully equipped with a crew, oars, and a mast. It was thought that the model could provide the soul of the deceased not only with routine transportation, but also with the ability to make the pilgrimage to the sacred city of Abydos in southern Egypt, the cult center of the god Osiris.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Ancient Egyptian
Title: Model of a River Boat
Origin: Egypt
Date: 2046 BCE–1794 BCE
Medium: Wood and pigment
Dimensions: 63.5 × 114.3 × 17.1 cm (25 × 45 × 6 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Henry H. Getty, Charles L. Hutchinson, Robert H. Fleming, and Norman W. Harris
Reference Number: 1894.241
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/127874/manifest.json

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1923), pppp. 49 (ill.), 50.
Art Institute of Chicago, “CLEOPATRA; THE ANCIENT WORLD,” Computer Program (Art Institute of Chicago, 1997).
Ann Marie Merriman, “Egyptian Watercraft Models from the Predynastic to Third Intermediate Periods” (Ph.D. diss., University College London, 2010), pp. 592-93 (ill.), no. 493.
Art Institute of Chicago, “A Committee of Two,” in “The Prime Mover”: Charles L. Hutchinson and the Making of the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Studies 36, 1 (2010), p. 64, fig. 21.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 24, fig. 8.

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.
J. Paul Getty Museum, Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World, March 27, 2018-September 9, 2018.

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

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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