NEW KINGDOM, EARLY 19TH DYNASTY, REIGN OF SETI I, 1294-1279 B.C.

Carved in raised relief typical of the elite tombs of the Memphite necropolis (especially Saqqara south), this fragment depicts a high official wearing a lappet wig in four layers. He holds a lotus bouquet in his right hand, and a long narrow staff in his left. While it is unclear how the figure was positioned, a standing pose is more likely. Around his neck he wears the distinctive shebyu collar of gold, a mark of prestige showing royal favor. The relatively small scale of this relief implies that this individual is shown amongst other family members, rather than as a lone large figure in a scene. The details of the banded eye, the modelling of the face, and the shape and type of the lappet wig allow an attribution to the reign of Seti I of the 19th Dynasty. Behind the figure are traces of the end of a vertical line of inscription in raised relief giving the individual's name ending in [...]y, followed by the phrase "justified." Above the figure are a few signs of a horizontal line of inscription in sunk relief.
Several New Kingdom tombs at Saqqara, from which this relief possibly originates, were found by dealers in the 19th century and rediscovered in the late 20th century (see G. Martin, Corpus of Reliefs of the New Kingdom from the Memphite Necropolis and Lower Egypt). Although several of these tombs of the late 18th and early 19th Dynasties were recorded by the Prussian expedition under Lepsius, a large number of fragments were subsequently dispersed and are now in private collections and museums of Europe and the United States. For more information, see P. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical, and Art Historical Analysis.