Relief of Pairkap

Possible OriginEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period, Dynasty 28-30

Dateca. 404-343 BCE

MediumLimestone

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions11 5/8 x 27 3/16 x 1 3/4 in. (29.5 x 69 x 4.5 cm)

Object number2018.010.411A/B

Label TextDuring the 4th century BCE, elite tomb reliefs returned to Old and New Kingdom models. Scenes of offering bearers and musicians before the deceased were favored, particularly in Memphis and the Delta. The high, rounded relief style is characteristic of the last native dynasty of Egypt.

The deceased sits on a feline-legged chair with lotus decoration. This type of seat first appears in the Early Dynastic period. Pairkap has a shaven head and wears a broad collar and a robe fastened over his left shoulder with fringed edges. He holds a long staff in one hand and a lotus flower in the other. The text before Pairkap identifies him as “the controller of the estates, Pairkap.” The sole use of this title most likely relates to its honorary nature.

Before Pairkap, a male musician plays the harp on a platform. Behind the harpist are two female offering bearers wearing broad collars and long dresses. The first woman holds out a menat necklace with a counterpoise composed of a collar with a leonine head wearing a solar disk and a uraeus. The beads of the necklace descend from the counterpoise. Her arm carries the handles of a woven basket, a bowl with caprid-headed protomes, and a tray with a seated cat statuette and a striding figurine with a basket on its head. Above the figures, the blank columns were never filled in. Behind her, another female offerer brings a bouquet of lotus and papyrus. Both women wear curious ball-like headdresses, the one to the left with a looped attachment.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed., Life and The Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 67.

ProvenanceEx coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

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