#dynasty 11

He is most famous for his richly equipped tomb discovered in 1893, which contained detailed, painted wooden models of Egyptian spearmen and Nubian archers.

Mayet was only five when she was buried among the older female members of the King Mentuhotep II’s court in his funerary complex at Deir el Bahri. Although her burial was simple, her necklaces, including two others of gold and carnelian ball beads, are some of the finest jewelry that survives from this period and the signs of wear on the beads indicate Mayet, or perhaps another woman, wore them during their lifetime.

Inventory Number: 26.3.232 Middle Kingdom–Early New Kingdom, Dynasty 11, ca. 2030–1981 B.C. Location Information: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, Tomb MMA 511, MMA excavations, 1921–23

Pleated sleeves and body, without decoration

Broad collar: composed of one row of horizontally strung beads and five vertically strung rows, two semicircular terminals and fourteen mummiform pendants, all of glazed composition. The long cylindrical beads are arranged vertically in five rows (bright-blue, white, purple, bright-blue, white) which are closely joined together. Above them is a sixth row of cylinder beads of purple, white and bright-blue glazed composition, strung lengthwise. The two bright-blue terminals, one of them broken, are pierced by six holes in the straight side and one in the curved side. The fourteen bright-blue glazed composition pendants are irregularly shaped, and some are concave in the middle; all are pinched in at each end. They are all flat on the reverse.

A broad collar ('wesekh'): consisting of five rows of beads, two semicircular terminals and seven mummiform pendants, all of glazed composition. Four of the rows are of vertically strung cylindrical beads connected only at the ends. The longer beads are in the centre of the collar, the shorter ones at the sides. The top row is of white glazed composition, the second of bright-blue, the third of white and the outermost row of purplish glazed composition. The last colour, not common until the Eighteenth Dynasty is produced from manganese oxide. The fifth, topmost, row is composed of a single string of bright-blue and white cylinder beads strung lengthwise. In the centre of each of the five rows is a short loop of bright-blue glazed composition disc beads. The seven bright-blue glazed composition mummiform pendants are attached to the bottom row of beads. The two bright-blue semicircular terminals are undecorated. Each has a ridge along the underside which is pierced by six holes through which the threads holding the rows of beads are knotted.

The four statues 10.176.57-.60 belonged to the Scribe of Divine Offerings Merer. Their short kilts are covered with spells from the Coffin Texts. The phrase inscribed on the two middle-sized figures (.58 and .60) is typical: "Oh Osiris Merer, come with me and I will open for you your eyes that they may lead you on the ways of darkness and that they may put fear of you into the Imperishable Ones, as did Horus for his father Osiris."

This dark-skinned young woman wears a brightly patterned skirt, a necklace, anklets, and a fillet around her head. She probably represents an attendant of one of the Hathor priestesses and royal wives at the court of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II. Remains of two similar figures were also found, and the three may have originally stood on a common base symbolically clapping their hands at a festival or the funeral of a higher-status woman.