Art as Ritual Engagement in the Funerary Programme of Watetkhethor at Saqqara, C. 2345 BC

Art as Ritual Engagement is examined through a case study of feminised funerary representation in the repertoire of Watetkhethor, an elite woman interred in the mastaba tomb of her spouse, Mereruka, at Saqqara, c.2345-2181 BCE. The focus is centred upon the functionality of a particular form of gendered imagery in a ritualised, funerary context. The spaces and images in which Watetkhethor is featured alone, or in support of her spouse, indicate something of an elite woman’s expectations of the afterlife at this particular time. Contemporaneous examples as detailed as Watetkhethor’s are rare, and her status may have permitted Watetkhethor’s personal involvement in designing the funerary programme. Her. The arrangements would have been ‘state-of-the-art’, meeting the requirements of a woman identified as the eldest daughter of King Teti, c. 2300-2181 BCE. However, to date, the assumptions of twentieth century anachronisms, attitudes and biases have all but dismissed the rich iconographical programme of specifically feminised arrangements within this shared tomb.

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