Silver gelatin on
glass 23.5 x 29.5 cm Epigraphic Survey, Oriental Institute,
University of Chicago |
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A Lady
from the Tomb of Userhat. A priest of the royal ka-spirit of the
Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Thutmosis I, Userhat flourished during the
reigns of Ramesses I and Sety I at the beginning of the Nineteenth
Dynasty. The lady shown in this photograph was apparently the second wife
of the tomb owner, but for some reason her name appears never to have been
inscribed into the space provided. Her title, however, is preserved:
"Chantress of Amun," and she holds up a jangling sistrum, by whose
soothing sounds the gods were pacified. She is bedecked for a banquet with
a heavy, curled wig and an elaborate floral collar. The tomb of Userhat
has suffered from spiteful vandals in modern times; the lady's face is
more damaged around the eye, all of her eyebrow having fallen away.
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