Funerary Stele of Tembu

Funerary Stele of Tembu (22.92) An ancient Egyptian stele is a stone or wooden slab erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, typically carved with scenes that tell a story, document, or give information about the person or people it is meant to memorialize. During the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt around about 1500-1470 BC, the “Funerary Stele of Tembu” was originally made to be a gravestone that commemorated the important Egyptian official, Tembu, and his wife. The place of origin of this funerary stele is Western Thebes in Egypt, however the exact artist who created it is unknown, thus credit is just said to be given to an Egyptian sculptor who lived during the New Kingdom. At about 68 centimeters in height, this funerary stele is a vertical low-relief sculpture with a rounded top, created by carving very low-relief images and hieroglyphs into limestone, and then painted with bright yellow, red, blue, and black polychrome paint. What used to be vivid colors have now faded, but not completely – the colors have still managed to remain faintly visible on the stone after hundreds of years. Each carving is very carefully done, and in close viewing, rise from the limestone at about the same height. The hieroglyphs at the very bottom are also meticulously carved, with each symbol appearing to be sculpted just as deep as the adjacent ones. This precision in work creates visual ease and order when looking at the stele. The organization of the images additionally assist in developing the general harmonious composition throughout the stele, while also adding some variety – as in, the images within the first two registers are carved at different sizes, and there is a strip of hieroglyphs at the bottom that is unpainted to contrast the prevailing yellow background of the two larger registers. The stele is divided at just about the center; the top half includes only one register, while the bottom half is split into two registers. In order from top to bottom, the