Skip to main content

Bed of Hetepheres I (reproduction)

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

Copy of bed from tomb of Hetepheres I; frame and four legs of modern wood gilded, with addition of inner frames, two cross bars, and webbing; made by W. A. Stewart under supervision of George Andrew Reisner, Cairo; modified by Joseph Gerte, Boston.

Details

  • ID
    MFAB_29.1858
  • Department
    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • Classification
    Reproductions & paintings
  • Findspot
    G 7000 X (original). Reproduction commissioned for the MFA and made by W.A. Stewart.
  • Material
    Wood, gold, copper, silver, leather, faience, ebony
  • Dimensions
    Height x width x length: 43.5 x 97.5 x 177 cm (17 1/8 x 38 3/8 x 69 11/16 in.)
  • Credit Line
    Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • 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
    W. A. Stewart
  • 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: January 1, 1929)
  • Remarks
    Bed: original reconstruction in collection of Egyptian Museum, Cairo (JE 53261); copy in collection of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA 29.1858).

Tombs and Monuments 1

Published Documents 10

Full Bibliography

  • Bothmer, Bernard V. Egypt 1950: My First Visit. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2003, p. 67, fig. 44 (incorrectly labeled 28.1858).

    Dunham, Dows. The Egyptian Department and its Excavations. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1958, pp. 56, 58, 62, Smith, William Stevenson. A History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting in the Old Kingdom. London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1946, pp. 56, 58, 62, fig. 39

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

    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. 4, 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. 1e.

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

    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), pp. 19-20.

    Reisner, George A. "The Household Furniture of Queen Hetep-heres I." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 27, No. 164 (December 1929), p. 88, figs. 8-9.

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

    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.

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

  • W. A. Stewart

    • Type Individual - Modern
    • Nationality & Dates
    • Remarks Conservator who assisted with objects from G 7000 X, Hetepheres, at Harvard Camp, Giza.