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Canopy of Hetepheres I (reproduction)

Object(s) photograph: Site: Giza; view: G 7000 X

Copy of bed canopy from tomb of Hetepheres I; inscribed jambs of gold plated copper electrotypes made by William Young; the rest of gilded bass wood and copper made by Joseph Gerte, Boston.

Details

  • ID
    MFAB_38.873
  • Department
    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • Classification
    Reproductions & paintings
  • Findspot
    G 7000 X (original). Reproduction commissioned for the MFA and made by Boston cabinetmaker Joseph Gerte, 1938.
  • Material
    Wood, gold, copper, silver, leather, faience, ebony
  • Dimensions
    Height x width x length: 221.5 x 258.8 x 313.7 cm (87 3/16 x 101 7/8 x 123 1/2 in.)
  • Credit Line
    Departmental Appropriation
  • Object Ownership Information
    MFA
  • Period
    Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Snefru - reign of Khufu
  • Attested
    Hetepheres I (G 7000 X)
  • Individual - Modern
    Joseph Gerte, American
    William Young, American
  • Notes
    This is a reproduction of an object excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, but was not recorded in any object register book. (Accession Date: May 1, 1938)
  • Remarks
    Canopy: original reconstruction in collection of Egyptian Museum, Cairo (JE 57711); copy in collection of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA 38.873).

Tombs and Monuments 1

Published Documents 7

Full Bibliography

  • Bothmer, Bernard V. Egypt 1950: My First Visit. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2003, p. 67, fig. 44.

    Dunham, Dows. The Egyptian Department and its Excavations. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1958, pp. 58-59, 62, fig. 39.

    Ekschmitt, Werner. Die Sieben Weltwunder: Ihre Erbauung, Zerstörung und Wiederentdeckung. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 1984, pl. 62b.

    Freed, Rita E., Lawrence M. Berman, and Denise M. Doxey. Arts of Ancient Egypt. MFA Highlights. Boston: MFA Publications, 2003, pp. 70-71.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. " The Lost Throne of Queen Hetepheres from Giza: An Archaeological Experiment in Visualization and Fabrication."Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 53 (2017), pp. 3, 25, figure 10.

    Markowitz, Yvonne J., Joyce L. Haynes, and Rita E. Freed. Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids: Highlights from the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Expedition. Boston: MFA Publications, 2002, pp. 48-51, cat. 1a.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. Slab Stelae of the Giza Necropolis. Publications of the Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Egypt 7. New Haven & Philadelphia: Peabody Museum of Natural History of Yale University & University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2003, p. 157, figs. 236-237.

    No author. The Tomb of Queen Hetep-heres. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, no date, p. 10.

    Reisner, George A. "The Bed Canopy of the Mother of Cheops." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 30, no. 180 (August 1932), pp. 55, 60, unnumbered figs.

    Smith, William Stevenson. Country Life in Ancient Egypt. Museum of Fine Arts Picture Book 2. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1954, pp. 12, 15, 26, figs. 14, 21, 40.

    Wilkinson, Alix. Ancient Egyptian Jewellery. London: Methuen, 1971, fig. 18.

People 3

Ancient People

  • Hetepheres I (G 7000 X)

    • Type Attested
    • Remarks Wife of King Snefru, founder of Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty, and mother of King Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid. Her burial was hidden in a secret chamber (labeled G 7000 X) nearly 90 feet underground, and contained beautiful pieces of gilded and inlaid wooden furniture, silver jewelry, and a large alabaster sarcophagus that was found to be mysteriously empty.

Modern People

  • Joseph Gerte

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates American

  • William Young

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates American
    • Remarks Founded Museum of Fine Arts' Objects Conservation and Scientific Research Laboratory in 1929, remaining director until his retirement in 1976.