*Ancient Egyptian Estate Figure sculpture 3d printable STL model* This exquisite example of Egyptian wood carving was unearthed in a concealed chamber adjacent to the passageway leading to the rock-cut tomb of the royal chief steward Meketre. Meketre commenced his service under King Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II of Dynasty 11 and continued to serve subsequent monarchs into the early years of Dynasty 12. Alongside a second, closely resembling female figure, which is currently housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, this statue accompanied a collection of twenty-two models representing gardens, workshops, boats, and a funeral procession, all of which were tightly packed within the chamber's limited space.
The woman strides forward with her left leg, balancing a basket filled with cuts of meat atop her head. In her right hand, she holds a live duck by its wings. The iconography of this figure is well-documented in Old Kingdom reliefs, where rows of offering bearers are frequently depicted. Place names were often inscribed beside these figures, designating them as embodiments of estates that would provide sustenance for the spirit of the tomb owner eternally. The woman is lavishly adorned with jewelry and wears a dress embellished with a feather pattern, a style typically associated with goddesses. Consequently, this figure and its counterpart in Cairo may also be linked to the funerary goddesses Isis and Nephthys, who are commonly illustrated at the head and foot of coffins, safeguarding the deceased.
Although all accessible chambers in Meketre's tomb had been looted in antiquity, in early 1920, the Museum's excavator, Herbert Winlock, instructed his workers to clear the accumulated debris to create an accurate floor plan of the tomb. It was during this cleaning process that the small hidden chamber was uncovered, containing nearly perfectly preserved models and the two statues. In the allocation of artifacts between the Egyptian Government and the Metropolitan Museum, half of the contents were transferred to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, while the other half was sent to New York.
STL (Stereolithography, filesize: 101 MB)
