18th Century Decorative Arts - Great Hall Costume Corridor Level 2, NGV International
Physical description
A roughly finished slab cut in part to resemble a stela. The back, top and sides are roughly finished with numerous chisel marks; the bottom is cut quite smoothly, though originally there was a ledge projecting out of the front of the base. The top is partly cut at the corners to make it rounded. Decorated on the front face, depicting the figure of the king on the left, standing on a high pedestal, wearing a short kilt, the white crown with uraeus and holding a 'was' sceptre in his left hand and a crook in his right hand. From the crook hangs a long triangle which may represent the flail. There is an incised line around the king's neck. The figure is slightly elongated. There is an incised line shadowing the figure from the waist down at varying distance from the outline.
In front of the king is the 'mhw' plant (a papyrus clump) above which is an inscription. All of the decoration is within an incised framing line. The incisions are very deeply cut with internal modelling. The face of the stela is uneven and dented.