The Man on the Folding Chair: An Egyptian Relief from Beth Shean

A relief fragment depicting an Egyptian man seated on a folding chair excavated at Beth Shean, Israel, in 1990–1991 is examined. The writer compares the fragment with ten known examples of representations of folding chairs ranging in date from the mid 18th to the 20th Dynasty. On the basis of the large size of the full figure, she suggests that the relief plausibly depicts the local governor, and she envisages the relief as part of a lintel from some imposing private residence from the Ramesside period. She uses certain features of the relief as dating criteria, including the long sleeves that overlap the back of the chair, which appear from the early 19th Dynasty until the reign of Ramesses VI. She dates the relief to the reign of Ramesses III, but she acknowledges that it is not impossible to date it to as late as the reign of Ramesses VI.