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Collections / Ricerca / Egyptian Collection: the tomb of Horemheb at Saqqara

Reliev with a messenger of horseback from the tomb of Horemheb

The relief illustrates Horemheb’s military encampment: above, two soldiers watch horses teamed to war chariots as an officer hurries off; below, another officer escorts two water bearers, a messenger on horseback is arriving or departing, and a group of soldiers is carrying a heavy load on their shoulders, a beam or perhaps Horemheb’s rolled-up tent.

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The entire scene, which is far removed from the typical rigidity of the models of classical Egyptian art because of its dynamism and the naturalistic rendering of many details, demonstrates that the artistic precepts that had emerged during the reign of Akhenaton survived under his successor Tutankhamen.


 


This relief, which comes from the first court of the memphite tomb of General Horemheb, shows a scene of military camp. At the top is represented an Egyptian, holding in his left hand

a scribe tablet and a stick, goes running to the left and leaves behind him two war chariots with their tank drivers who keep the horses.  At the bottom we find: on the left an officer who exhorts two water carriers, in the center a courier that arrives on horseback in the camp, on the right a group of soldiers carrying a heavy beam or curtain rolled up.

 


Provenance: Saqqara: tomb of Horemheb. Palagi Collection (Nizzoli)
Datation: 18th dynasty: reign of Tutankhamen (1332–1323 BC)
Material: Limestone
Dimensions: cm 62 x 126,5
Inventory #: EG 1889

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