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Carrying chair of Hetepheres I (reproduction)

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

Copy of carrying chair from tomb of Hetepheres I; hieroglyphs and pole ends of gold plated copper electrotypes made by William Young; the rest of cypress, ebony, and gilt copper made by Joseph Gerte, Boston.

Details

  • ID
    MFAB_38.874
  • 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, ebony, gilded copper, and gold-plated copper electrotypes
  • Dimensions
    Height x width x depth: 79.5 x 70.7 x 66 cm (31 5/16 x 27 13/16 x 26 in.)
  • Credit Line
    Gift of Mrs. Charles Gaston Smith and Group of Friends
  • 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
    Carrying chair: original reconstruction in collection of Egyptian Museum, Cairo (JE 52372); copy in collection of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA 38.874).

Tombs and Monuments 1

Published Documents 9

Full Bibliography

  • Dunham, Dows. The Egyptian Department and its Excavations. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1958, pp. 55-57, fig. 36.

    Dunham, Dows. Recollections of an Egyptologist. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1972, pp. 32-34.

    Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, p. 218, cat. 33.

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

    Galeris nationales du Grand Palais (France), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York N.Y.), and Royal Ontario Museum. L'art Égyptien Au Temps Des Pyramides: Paris, Galeries Nationales Du Grand Palais 6 Avril-12 Juillet 1999, New-York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art 16 Septembre 1999-9 Janvier 2000, Toronto, Musée Royal De L'ontario 13 Février-22 Mai 2000. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1999, p. 181, cat. 30.

    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. 1f.

    Münch, Hans-Hubertus, "Categorizing Archaeological Finds: the Funerary Material of Queen Hetepheres I at Giza." Antiquity 74, No 286 (2000), p. 905.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. Slab Stelae of the Giza Necropolis. Publications of the Pennsylvania–Yale Expedition to Egypt 7. New Haven and Philadelphia: Peabody Museum of Natural History of Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2003, p. 68, figs. 83-84.

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

    Reisner, George A. "Hetep-Heres, Mother of Cheops." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 25, supplement (May 1927), p. 20.

    Reisner, George A. "The Empty Sarcophagus of the Mother of Cheops." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 26, No. 157 (October 1928), pp. 85-88.

    Reisner, George A. "The Household Furniture of Queen Hetep-heres I." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 27, No. 164 (December 1929), pp. 83-84.

    "The Second Greatest Show on Earth:" The Making of a Museum: An Exhibition of Works of Art, Documents & Photographs. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1977, p. 13, no. 14.

    Smith, William Stevenson. Ancient Egypt as Represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1960 (6th ed.), pp. 68-69, fig. 40.

    Vandier, Jacques. Manuel D'archéologie Égyptienne 4. Paris: A. et J. Picard, 1952, pl. 15.

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.