Block from the tomb of an Overseer of the treasury Izi. Old Kingdom, late Dynasty 4 – early Dynasty 5, ca. 2500 B. C.

Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts features eight reliefs from the tomb of a high-rank official of the Old
Kingdom, the master of the "house of silver" (i.e. royal treasurer) Isi. This block contains a sacrificial
formula – the main inscription of every tomb build during the period of the Old Kingdom. A sacrificial
formula was a list of gifts given to the deceased by the king and a god (usually Anubis or Osiris). Among
the gifts there were both food products (bread and beer, meat, fruit, etc.) and spiritual offerings such as
"good (wealthy) old age", "good burial in the West" (i.e. in a necropolis), or certain personal
characteristics that were highly valued by the Egyptians (nobility, honour).