Stela Fragment

This fragmentary limestone funerary stela depicts a husband and wife accompanied by their son in painted relief. Significant traces of pigment survive: the male figures are rendered in a terracotta red, while the female figure appears in a lighter, coppery hue. The man wears a simple kilt and a cropped, curled wig, while his wife embraces him with her left arm. She appears to be dressed in a wraparound garment tied low below the navel, leaving her upper body bare, and wears a long, striated wig. Their son, endearingly depicted clasping his mother’s legs, wears a kilt, perhaps suggesting that he is no longer an infant, since younger children are more commonly shown nude. This interpretation, however, remains uncertain, as nude depictions of offspring are at times accompanied by inscriptions assigning them adult titles.