False door of Ptahshepses
- Audio guide stop: 206
- Gallery: Room 4
- Culture: 5th Dynasty
- Object type: stela, architrave
- Materials: limestone
- Museum number: EA682
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you stands the False Door of Ptahshepses, an ancient limestone stela from Egypt’s 5th Dynasty. This beautifully carved object served as a spiritual passage between the earth and the afterlife.
Look closely at the false door itself—its surface is flanked by intricately carved panelled walls that record Ptahshepses’s life, from his early years under King Mycerinus to his service under successive rulers. The hieroglyphs are expertly cut in sunk relief and once richly painted, with traces of pink, green, and red still visible in places.
Above, the architrave holds five lines of sacred inscriptions invoking the names of Osiris and Anubis, carved with great precision. Though weathered in small areas, this monument captures the grandeur of ancient Egyptian craftsmanship—and the personal legacy of Ptahshepses.
See it in person
False door of Ptahshepses is on display in Room 4 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 206, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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