Stela of Lady Taperet

The stela  of Taperet in the  Louvre Museum. A close-up of the hieroglyphs for ‘thousands of bread, beer, beef, and fowl’. Striking because of its vividly preserved colours and somewhat unusual composition, this painted wooden stela is representative of an object type placed in tombs of the Theban elite of the Twenty-second Dynasty (c.950-850 BC). Grave goods were minimal at that time, and decorated tomb chapels almost non-existent – so this bright panel may have been the only colour in an otherwise cramped and monochrome underground space. Taperet is described only as a ‘Lady of the House’ (indicating a woman with a partner and broader family) and is shown adori