id: 94122 accession number: 1914.669 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1914.669 updated: 2019-06-05 08:01:54.405000 Stele of the High Priest of Ptah, Shedsunefertem, 945-924 BC. Egypt, New Kingdom, Dynasty 22, reign of Shosheng I, 945-924 BC. Limestone, originally painted and gilded; overall: 86.8 x 78.5 cm (34 3/16 x 30 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1914.669 title: Stele of the High Priest of Ptah, Shedsunefertem title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 945-924 BC creation date earliest: 945 creation date latest: 924 current location: 107 Egyptian creditline: Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust copyright: --- culture: Egypt, New Kingdom, Dynasty 22, reign of Shosheng I, 945-924 BC technique: limestone, originally painted and gilded department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art collection: Egypt - New Kingdom type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 86.8 x 78.5 cm (34 3/16 x 30 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Purchased from Khawam Brothers, Cairo, by Lucy Olcott Perkins through Henry W. Kent, April 23, 1913, with 1914.662, 1914.542, and 1914.663 date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: This stele of Shedsunefertem, the High Priest of Ptah, is rich in religious symbolism. In the center of the top register is a disk and crescent, originally gilded. At either side a baboon raises its arms in adoration. The Egyptians believed that the jabbering of the baboons at dawn was a hymn of praise to the sun god Ra in a secret language only the king understood. It begins, "Praising Ra when he shines on the horizon." Directly below in the middle register a child god is seated on a lotus flower. In Egyptian mythology the sun arose out of the primeval waters at the dawn of creation in a lotus flower. Winged figures of Maat, goddess of Truth, stand protectively at either side. The damaged figure of the high priest himself, wearing the panther skin and jackal-collar of his office, appears at the far right, worshipping the god Ptah, whose consort, the lioness-headed goddess Sekhmet, appears on the far left. The figures in the bottom register are colleagues who appear here as dependents under the powerful high priest's protection. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 page number: Reproduced: p. 258; Mentioned: p. 258-260 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1914.669/1914.669_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1914.669/1914.669_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1914.669/1914.669_full.tif