Stela of the Vizier Senusret
Unknown · Year 8 of Amenemhat II, c. 1900-1865 BC (Twelfth Dynasty)
A block of pink granite nearly two metres high, far heavier than the usual limestone stela, cut for a man who could afford the hardest stone in Egypt. Two figures flank a table of offerings. On one side a man sits with his left arm folded across his chest, wearing a broad wig, a short beard and a kilt held up by a cord knotted at the waist. Facing him a standing man in the same dress leans on a staff. The hieroglyphs give the date, year eight of Amenemhat II, the king's throne name, and the offering formula asking for bread, beer, oxen and fowl. Look closely into the incised signs: traces of blue pigment survive, a reminder that the whole inscription once glowed against the pink stone.
The owner is Senusret, a vizier, the highest official under the king, in charge of justice, taxation and the great building projects of the Twelfth Dynasty around 1900 BC. A granite stela was a statement of his rank. The Louvre records it among its old holdings, arriving in 1849 and entered in the inventory in 1857, without a record of where in Egypt it was found.
Did You Know? Look inside the hieroglyphs for a trace of blue: the whole text was once filled with colour against the pink stone.
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