Model of a River Boat

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Ancient and Byzantine Art

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

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.

Currently Off View: Ancient and Byzantine Art

Artist: Ancient Egyptian
Title: Model of a River Boat
Origin: Egypt
Date: 2046–1794
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

Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago, by Karen Manchester (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2012), p. 24, fig. 8.
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.
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, “CLEOPATRA; THE ANCIENT WORLD,” Computer Program (Art Institute of Chicago, 1997).
Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Art Institute of Chicago/University of Chicago Press, 1923), pp. 49 (ill.), 50.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 154A, April 20, 1994-February 6, 2012.
The Art Institute of Chicago, When the Greeks Ruled: Egypt After Alexander the Great, October 31, 2013 - July 27, 2014.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World, March 27, 2018-September 9, 2018.