Stela of the Gatekeeper Maati

Maati is shown seated in front of an offering table with a jar for a sacred oil in his left hand. The text on this masterpiece of early Middle Kingdom relief art contains references to other prominent figures of the time, including Maati's overseer, the treasurer Bebi, who later became a vizier, and an ancestor of the ruling family called Intef "the Great." The inscriptions demonstrate the close ties that bound together rulers and followers in Theban of the time.