The acrobatic-ecstatic dance performance for the vizier Merefnebef and a wife
These Female dancers are represented standing on one foot with the upper body bent backwards, with the second leg straightened and kicking high into the air and with both arms outstretched and raised in the same direction. They wear short skirts and crossed bands across their chests. A Libyan origin for these outfits has been suggested and so these bands are often referred to as `Libyan bands'. The dancers are accompanied by a woman clapping hands.
Special attention may also be given to the disk headdress worn by these women. The hairstyle is attested since the Fifth Dynasty and was originally used as an attribute of daughters. It obviously developed from a single braid with a curled end worn by young girls that was later adapted, and a disc-shaped or sphere-shaped weight was fitted into the curl. In the Sixth Dynasty, the hairstyle began to be worn by girls performing various acrobatic dances.
According to Altenmüller, Old Kingdom scenes associated with music and dance may represent either the temporary return of the deceased to this life or his return to the offering table. He considered it to be a ritual by which musicians caused the return of the deceased from the hereafter by means of invoking Hathor. These scenes can be seen as early forms of funerary festivals ... thanks to the music and intervention of Hathor, the deceased was able to participate in the festival and being regenerated.
Tomb of Merefnebef (mrrw-n-nbw.f) Dyn. VI - interior of the main chapel /South wall (upp- reg). - Saqqara
Bibliography
Ľubica Hudáková - The Representations of Women in the Middle Kingdom Tombs of Officials: Studies in Iconography (2019)
Source and image
OSIRISNET https://www.osirisnet.net/mastabas/merefnebef/e_merefnebef_01.htm
