On this fragment, part of an immense sail bellies in the wind
dwarfing the busy sailors. One man raises the sail, while the
two at the bow are probably pilots testing the water with sticks
and guiding the boat. Representations of the sacred wedjat eye
on the bladelike objects in front of the pilots may magically
both protect the boat and help it to "see" its way. A vertical
line of inscription reads "Sail well like this, hurry!"This
relief has been suggested to date to the reign of Userkaf, whose
pyramid complex was at Saqqara. Although variability among the
different royal pyramid complexes and problems of preservation
prevent us from knowing exactly where a scene like the one
depicted here would occur, it is interesting to note that
Userkaf's successor Sahure depicted ships in the corridors
outside the central court of his pyramid temple, conveying the
notion that the court itself constituted a sort of island.This
relief was actually discovered by the Museum's Egyptian
Expedition in the core of the Middle K