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© Bruce M. White, 2014.
Stela of Nebetiotef and Letter to the Dead from Merirtyfy to Nebetiotef
© Bruce M. White, 2014.
© Bruce M. White, 2014.
© Bruce M. White, 2014.
ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Stela of Nebetiotef and Letter to the Dead from Merirtyfy to Nebetiotef

Possible OriginNaga ed-Deir, Egypt, Africa
CultureEgyptian
PeriodFirst Intermediate Period - Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 10 - Dynasty 11
Dateca. 2030-1980 BCE
MediumLimestone, pigment
Credit LineGift of Joop Bollen and Pyush Patel
Dimensions10 3/8 x 5 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. (26.4 x 14 x 3.2 cm)
Object number2014.033.001
Label TextFrom the late Old Kingdom (2216-2120 BC) to the late New Kingdom (1292-1077 BC) there survive only about 15 letters like this, written to relatives who had recently died. Examples range widely enough in time and in geographical spread to suggest that they reflect a broader custom of communication. They provide the most compelling evidence for the strength of belief in a life after death. Other practices, such as mummification and rituals for the deceased, might be considered social practice, but the letters at least appear more directly personal.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, August 15, 2014 - Present
Published ReferencesEdward F. Wente, "A Misplaced Letter to the Dead" in Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica: Miscellanea in Honorem Josephi Vergote. Volume 6/7, ed. Jozef Vergote, et al. (Leuven: Departement Orientalistiek, 1975-1976), 595-600.
Edward F. Wente and Edmund S. Meltzer, Letters from Ancient Egypt (Atlanta: Scholars University Press, 1990), 215, number 349.
Richard B. Parkinson, Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), 142.
Kasia Szpakowska, Behind Closed Eyes: Dreams and Nightmares in Ancient Egypt (Swansea: Classical Press of Wales, 2003), 22-24; 185-186.
Louise Gestermann, "Ägyptische Briefe. Briefe in das Jenseits," in Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments: Bd. 3. Briefe, ed. Bernd Janowski and Gernot Wilhelm (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlag, 2006), 301-302.
Sylvie Donnat, Écrire à ses morts : enquête sur un usage rituel de l'écrit dans l'Egypte pharaonique (Grenoble: Jérôme Millon, 2014), 53-56.
Gianluca Miniaci, Lettere ai morti nell'Egitto antico e altre storie di fantasmi (Brescia: Paideia, 2014), 54-56.
Julia Hsieh, Ancient Egyptian Letters to the Dead: The Realm of the Dead Through the Voice of the Living (Boston: Brill, 2021), 220-232, figures 5.21-5.23.
Rune Nyord, "The Letter to Nebetitef on Her First Intermediate Period Stela in the Michael C. Carlos Museum," The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 107 (2021).
Rune Nyord, “Post til en afdød: Nebetitefs genfundne brev,” Papyrus: Ægyptologisk Tidsskrift 41/1 (2021), 22–29.
ProvenanceProbably ex private collection, United States, purchased from the Cairo art market, 1958. Ex coll. Dr. W. Benson Harer/Harer Family Trust, Seattle, Washington, by 2007. Ex coll. Joop Bollen and Pyush Patel, United States, purchased from Harer Family Trust, 2013.
Status
On view
Collections
  • Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art