Model of a Man Plowing

Unknown

ca. 1981–1885 B.C. · Painted wood · Egyptian Art

The peasant, feet deep in the sodden ground, trudges behind the hook-shaped plow pulled by two oxen. Ancient Egyptian plows were made of wood and had the shape of a hook. It is not possible to turn the soil with such plows, they only serve to open the ground. The ultimate aim of this kind of plowing was, therefore, to place the seeds well into the soil. Texts appear to indicate that while a plow may have been the farmer's property, the oxen were leased by state or temple institutions. Egyptians believed that they also had to work in the fields in the afterlife; and this may be the reason why a model such as this was included in among burial equipment.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1981–1885 B.C.

Medium

Painted wood

Department

Egyptian Art

Credit line

Gift of Valdemar Hammer Jr., in memory of his father, 1936