Relief fragment from the tomb of Niankhnesut: Man holding a cow by a rope

Carved in shallow raised relief and originally painted (with some color still visible), this rectangular fragment of a wall relief depicts a male herdsman, at right, who stands in front of a cow. The man is nude except for an abbreviated lioncloth. He holds a rope, by which the cow is harnessed at its nose and knotted with a loop around its front left hoof. He grasps the rope in his right hand and appears to pull it taunt behind his back and over his left shoulder with his left hand; the rope disappears behind the cow. Both the man and the cow stride toward the left, each with their right legs forward: the man faces to the left and the cow turns its head back, to the right, toward the man. An inscription in hieroglyphs is present at upper center. Above, the relief fragment terminates at a raised horizontal line, marking the separation of horizontal registers.