Detail of a painted limestone stela from the tomb of Khety and his wife, Henet. It dates to the early 12th Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom, circa 1980 BCE.We see a depiction of the couple's son, Mentuhotep. He carries an ox foreleg (the choicest cut of beef) as an offering to sustain his parents in the next world. This is in addition to the offerings heaped in a wide basket resting on a tall stand before him (partly shown).Looking closely at the background, we can see the preserved remains of horizontal and vertical red lines spaced at regular intervals. These marks are an example of the grid used by artists to render the prescribed proportions of human and other figures in accordance with the Egyptian artistic canon. It is a fundamental aspect of ancient Egyptian art executed in two dimensions.This vivid stela (INV 202) is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna, Austria.Photo: Heqaib

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