The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, possesses a substantial
collection of reliefs and other objects of Old Kingdom date. These are
little published and largely unknown to the Egyptological community. The
present volume incoporates the reliefs, false doors, lintels, and drum
rolls from seven different Old Kingdom tombs deriving from the sites of
Giza and Saqqara. In date they range from the 4th to 6th Dynasties.
Other monuments from the same tombs in museums in the United States and
Europe are assembled here. Taken as a whole, the Field Museum objects
are revealing of the socio-economic status of their owners, who include
both high-ranking officials and others of a more modest rank, and
disclose something of their religious beliefs and moral tenets as well.
They also attest to the active antiquities trade of the late 19th
century.
