Silver cylinder seal inscribed for official of Khafre

Object(s) photograph: Site: Giza; view: Menkaure valley temple

Silver cylinder seal; names and titles of Khafre; oxydized, broken and mended.

ID

MFAB_11.962
Department

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Classification

Seals, sealings & stoppers
Findspot

Menkaure Valley Temple (MVT)
Material

Silver
Dimensions

Length x diameter: 4.4 x 2 cm (1 3/4 x 13/16 in.)
Credit Line

Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Object Ownership Information

MFA
Period

Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Khafre
Owner

Khafre
Notes

This object was excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, but was not recorded in any object register book. 1908: Excavated by the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; 1911: assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of Egypt. (Accession date: March 2, 1911)

Menkaure Valley Temple
- Site Name Menkaure Pyramid Complex

Reisner, George A. Mycerinus: The Temples of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931, p. 234 (seal 1), p. 281 (no. 7), pl. A (line drawing 9), pl. 64l.

Ancient People

Khafre
- Type Owner
- Remarks Fourth king of Dynasty 4. Son of Khufu. Builder of the Second Pyramid at Giza and probably of the Great Sphinx as well. Known two thousand years later by the Greeks as King Khephren. A number of diorite and greywacke statues and statue fragments depicting the king have been discovered in Khafre's valley temple, including Cairo CG 9-17. The fragmentary head of an alabaster royal statue (MFA 21.351 + MFA 33.1113) is attributed to Khafre.