Model of Boat

This type of object, called “model”, was deposited in the grave and destined to accompany the dead into the afterlife according to custom which lasted from the end of the Old Kingdom until the Middle Kingdom. The model presented here shows the massive shell of the boat, cut from a single piece of wood, with five sculpted figurines in the same material fixed on. The largest figurine may be representing the deceased, while the four others are responsible for the manoeuvring of the boat. The presence of boats in Egyptian iconography, both in the terrestrial world and in the heavenly world, is undoubtedly due to the omnipresence of the Nile in the landscape. In the imaginations of ancient Egyptians, does not the god Ra pass through the diurnal and nocturnal skies on a boat? This vital axis of the Nile, without which the Pharaonic civilization could not have developed, also allowed the transportation, exchange and trade; thus favouring the intermingling of cultures. Read more about this object on the UNESCO Museums for Intercultural Dialogue website.