{
"data": {
"id": 102365,
"accession_number": "1921.1017",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Stele of Shemai, c. 1960\u20131916 BCE. Egypt, Aswan, Qubbet el-Hawa, excavations of Lady William Cecil, 1904, \"Cecil Tombs,\" no. 28, Middle Kingdom (2040\u20131648 BCE), Dynasty 12, probably reign of Senusret I (1971\u20131926 BCE). Painted limestone; overall: 83.5 x 86 x 23 cm (32 7/8 x 33 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1921.1017",
"current_location": "107 Egyptian",
"title": "Stele of Shemai",
"creation_date": "c. 1960\u20131916 BCE",
"creation_date_earliest": -1960,
"creation_date_latest": -1916,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Egypt, Aswan, Qubbet el-Hawa, excavations of Lady William Cecil, 1904, \"Cecil Tombs,\" no. 28, Middle Kingdom (2040\u20131648 BCE), Dynasty 12, probably reign of Senusret I (1971\u20131926 BCE)"
],
"technique": "painted limestone",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art",
"collection": "Egypt - Middle Kingdom",
"type": "Funerary Equipment",
"measurements": "Overall: 83.5 x 86 x 23 cm (32 7/8 x 33 7/8 x 9 1/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.835,
"height_inch": 32,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.875,
"width": 0.86,
"width_inch": 33,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.875,
"depth": 0.23,
"depth_inch": 9,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.0625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": null,
"inscription_translation": "The one honored before Osiris, lord of Busiris,\nthe great god, lord of Anydos, that he may give invocation-offerings of bread and beer, oxen and fowl,\nlinen and travertine (vessels) to the ka of the chief of police, Shermai, vindicated.",
"inscription_remark": "Center",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": null,
"inscription_translation": "An offering that the king gives to Anubis, he who is on his mountain, he who is in the place of embalming, lord of the cemetery, that he (Anubis) may give a thosand of bread and beer, oxen and gowl, linen adn travertine (vessels), of [ferings, and provisions?...]",
"inscription_remark": "Beginning in the center and continuing down the jamb on the right.",
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": null,
"inscription_translation": "An offering that the king gives to Osiris, lord of Busiris, the great god, lord of abydos [that he (Osiris) may give...]",
"inscription_remark": "Beginning in the center and continuing down the jamb on the left.",
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "This door-shaped stele honors a deceased chief of police named Shemai.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Two techniques of relief carving are employed here: the scene of the deceased seated before a table of offerings and its accompanying inscriptions are in raised relief, while the border inscriptions are in sunk relief. The three columns of hieroglyphs in the center read: \"The one honored before Osiris, lord of Busiris, the great god, lord of Abydos, that he [the god] may give invocation-offerings of bread and beer, oxen and fowl, travertine [vases] and clothing to the ka [vital spirit] of the chief of police, Shemai, vindicated.\"",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60758544"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1921.1017-stele-of-shemai"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "\"Accessions.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 8, no. 9 (1921): 138-41.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 138",
"url": "http://www.jstor.org/stable/25136519"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: 55",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook_80839/page/n57"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 70",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1928/page/n74"
},
{
"citation": "Berman, Lawrence M. \"The Stele of Shemai, Chief of Police, of the Early Twelfth Dynasty, in The Cleveland Museum of Art,\" in Simpson, William Kelly, Peter Der Manuelian, and Rita E. Freed (Eds.), Studies in honor of William Kelly Simpson, vol. I. Boston: Dept. of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art, Museum of Fine Arts, 1996. Pp. 93-99.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Boha\u010d. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 159; Mentioned: p. 159-160",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1921.1017",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
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],
"creditline": "Gift of Edward S. Harkness",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 102365,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1921-10-27T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": -1960,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1960\u20131916 BCE",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 05:31:43.873000"
}
}