Relief with Blind Harpist, between 1350 and 1300 BCE

  • Egyptian

Carved limestone

  • Overall: 18 1/2 × 14 1/8 × 1 1/2 inches (47 × 35.9 × 3.8 cm)

Founders Society Purchase, Ancient Art General Fund, Abraham Borman Family Fund, Joseph H. Boyer Memorial Fund, K. T. Keller Fund, Laura H. Murphy Fund, Barbara L. Scripps Fund, Edna Burian Skelton Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Conrad H. Smith Memorial Fund, Matilda R. Wilson Fund, Cleo and Lester Gruber Fund, Hill Memorial Fund

1986.103

Inscribed, seven vertical columns, top of fragment [only part of original inscription remains]: [translation: …your following when they take the reins on the ground; every road is traversed (?) | …in (?) | …you have spoken(?), your mouth | …by the stem-priest and lector priest | …Wen-nefer | …praised, rejoicing, making… | …at the Island of the Just, after he has reached god’s land. May you arise daily at dawn to see Re when he places himself | on the horizon of the sky (?)]

Collection Frederick Stafford. (Safani Gallery)

1986-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Egypt’s Golden Age. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Houston Museum of Natural Science, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. Boston, 1982, pp. 256-258 (ill.), cat. no. 362. Odyssey of an Art Collector: Unity in Diversity-5000 Years of Art. Exh. cat., Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Stafford Collection. 1966, p. 42, cat. no. 68. Eye for Eye, Egyptian Images and Inscriptions. Exh. cat. 1977, cat. no. 39. Calendar of Events. New Orleans Museum of Art. March 1977, (ill.). Goedicke, Hans. "A "New" Relief Showing a Blind Harpist," Societe D'Egyptologie, Geneva, no. 7 (1982): pp. 33-38 (ill.). Simpson, William Kelly. "A New Kingdom Relief of a Harper and His Song," in Philology in Honor of Ronald James Williams, ed. Kadish, G. E. and G. E. Freeman. Toronto, 1982, pp. 133-137 (ill.). Ziegler, Christine, et al. Egypt's Golden Age: The Art of Living in the New Kingdom 1558-1085 B.C., Brovarski, ed. 1982, pp. 256-258, 309, cat. no. 362. [frontispiece ill.]. "La Chronique des Arts: Principales Acquisitions des Musees en 1986,” GdBA, no. 1418. (March 1987): p. 19, cat. no. 117. Bulletin of the DIA 63, no. 1 and 2. 1987, pp. 13-14, 29.

Egyptian, Relief with Blind Harpist, between 1350 and 1300 BCE, carved limestone. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Ancient Art General Fund, Abraham Borman Family Fund, et al., 1986.103.