NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, REIGN OF AKHENATEN, CIRCA 1351-1334 B.C.

Once part of a larger talatat block, this fragment depicts a hefty bull facing right, which was most likely part of a procession of animals fattened for slaughter being led in procession. Although the Egyptologist C. Aldred (op. cit.) suggested that perhaps this may have represented a wild bull as part of a hunt, it fits more closely with scenes of bulls being led to slaughter, for example the “requisitioned cattle being led to the temple,” as shown in R.W. Smith and D.B. Redford, The Akhenaten Temple Project. Volume 1: Initial Discoveries, pls. 55-56. Such scenes are standard in New Kingdom festival scenes, as in the Opet festival scenes at Luxor Temple carved under Tutankhamun.