Gauls inhabited in the region of ancient Roman Empire, specifically the territory corresponding to modern France, Belgium, southern Netherlands, Switzerland, northern Italy and Germany to the west of the Rhine River.
The Gaul is characterised by his facial features, his stiff hair and his moustache. This head is considered one of the most impressive pieces of art of its era. Although much of the head is broken off, it is still easy to recognise the warrior’s sense of pain conveyed through the contracted eyebrows, turned head and dishevelled hair.
Period: Ptolemaic Period, reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes (c. 204–180 BC)
Place of discovery: Southern Upper Egypt, Armant, Bucheum
Size: H 73.00 cm W 50.00 cm D/L 16.00 cm
Material: Limestone, gold, pigment (unspecified)
Dedicated by Ptolemy V to the god Buchis, the sacred bull who identified with the war god Montu that was worshipped at Armant, this round-topped stela was discovered in the underground necropolis known as Bucheum, which was devoted to the burials of Buchis’s earthly embodiments. Stelae such as this one was discovered in their thousands and were marked for each burial in the Bucheum.
Buchis was first mentioned in Egyptian religion during the 30th Dynasty in the reign of Nectanebo II. He was represented as a white bull with a black face, but according to the classical author Macrobius, his colour changed each hour of the day.
This stela is protected at the top by a winged sun-disk, representing Horus of Edfu, under which a scarab and a djed pillar (the symbol of the god Osiris) is flanked by two uraei and two crouching jackals. The body of the stela is separated from the upper register by the hieroglyphic symbol of the sky. The second register depicts Ptolemy V seen in an Egyptian king’s robes, offering the hieroglyphic sign for fields to a statue of Buchis Bull, who is crowned with a sun-disk with two uraei and double feathers. The gilded statue is placed on a gilded base and protected by a hovering falcon, an allusion to the sky and sun gods Horus and Re, holding a fan and a shen-ring (symbol of infinity).
Five horizontal lines of hieroglyphic text in the third register provide details of the dedication of the stela, made by Ptolemy V and his consort, Cleopatra I, in the 25th year of his reign.
Period: Ptolemaic Period, Ptolemy III Euergetes I (c. 246–221 BC)
Place of discovery: Kom el-Hisn (Imu; Momemphis), Temple of Sekhmet-Hathor
Size: H 204 cm – W 93 cm – L 70 cm
Material: Limestone
The Decree of Canopus is a trilingual inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic and Greek. It commemorates a great assembly of priests held at Canopus to honour Ptolemy III Euergetes, his wife Queen Berenice and Princess Berenice. It is the second earliest instance of a series of trilingual inscriptions, the most famous example of which is the Rosetta Stone.
This round-topped stela is decorated with a frieze of stars that runs around the top of the stela’s lunette. It depicts a winged sun-disk with pendant uraei and shen-ring (symbol of infinity) hanging from their bodies beside the names of Horus Behedet and the cartouches of the king and the queen. Below is a register containing sixteen divinities and kings facing to the centre (eight on each side), where the innermost figure on the proper right side is Ptolemy III. Beneath are one hundred and ten horizontal lines of inscription; the top twenty-six of which are in hieroglyphs; the second twenty are in the Demotic script, while the final sixty-four are in Greek. The inscription describes various subjects such as military campaigns, famine, governmental organisation and Egyptian religion in Ptolemaic Egypt. It mentions the king’s donations to the temples and his support for the Apis and Mnevis (Mer-wer) cults. It declares the deceased princess Berenike as a goddess and creates a cult for her. Finally, it orders the decree to be incised in stone or bronze in both hieroglyphs and Greek, and to be displayed in the temples.
This stela inaugurates the most accurate solar calendar known to the ancient world, with three hundred and sixty-five and quarter days per year. The upper-right corner of the stela is missing a piece, and the right edge of it is damaged.
Place of discovery: Middle Egypt, Tuna el-Gebel, Necropolis, Funerary House No. 21 Petosiris
Size: H 39.00 cm W 53.00 cm D/L 193.00 cm
Material: Pinus halepensis wood (conifers), glass
The tomb of Petosiris, the High Priest of god Thot in Hermopolis, is a unique example of this era. It has the appearance of a small temple from the Graeco-Roman period. The scenes from the tomb are a mixture of Egyptian, Greek and Persian influences and are of outstanding technical quality and rich symbolism.
The tomb holds the stone sarcophagus of Petosiris, in which two wooden anthropoid coffins were found. The innermost coffin depicts Petosiris wearing a divine beard and a long wig. The large eyes and bronze eyebrows that take the form of wedjat eyes, are inlaid with coloured glass. The body, wrapped in a mummiform garment, is decorated from chest to ankles with five vertical lines of inlayed hieroglyphic inscriptions, topped by a hieroglyphic sign of sky decorated with a band of stars, of which two-thirds is now missing. The hieroglyphic inscriptions and the band of stars are inlaid with glass coloured red, yellow, green, blue and white to imitate fine stones and precious materials. The inscriptions bear the name and the titles of Petosiris and the formula from Chapter 42 of the Book of the Dead, helping the deceased to overcome the difficulties of his journey towards the afterlife. The wood of the coffin shows some cracks and a small piece of the outer layer of wood is missing on the left side at the feet.
Period: Ptolemaic Macedonian Period/Argead Dynasty, reign of Alexander IV (c. 317–310 BC)
Place of discovery: Thebes East, Karnak Temple (Ipet-Isut)
Size: H 280.00 cm W 61.00 cm D/L 106.00 cm
Material: Red granite
The mixture of Hellenistic Greek and traditional Egyptian styles are well illustrated in this colossal statue of a Ptolemaic king. The sculpture of the body is beautifully rendered, with elegantly and simply modelled idealized elements typical of Egyptian art.
The nemes crown is sharply turned at the shoulders and set back on the forehead to display the curls across the forehead. The face of the king is modelled in Hellenistic style, but maintains an idealised approach to the portrait. The round eyes are heavily rimmed and the brows are simple and his Grecian nose is long, narrow and straight. The mouth is narrow but full and the median line of the mouth is visible on the bottom lip, and he has a prominently rounded chin. He is wearing the royal shendyt kilt and stands with his left leg is forward, arms by the sides holding the traditional enigmatic cylindrical objects. This statue remains unidentified due to the lack of inscriptions.
Place of discovery: Delta Western, Kom Geif (Naukratis; el-Nibeira; el-Niqrash), Great Mound
Size: H 360.00 cm
Material: Granite
Horemheb was an official who served under the first Ptolemies. He had control over the Greek colony of Naukratis, which was established in the 26th Dynasty on the Canopic branch of the Nile river as trading post for the Greeks in Egypt. Herodotus mentions that King Amasis gave Naukratis to Greek colonisers, but there is an evidence that it was already founded under King Psamtek I.
Although this statue dates to the Ptolemaic Period, its iconography and style is almost exclusively Egyptian. It depicts Horemheb with his left leg forward, arms by his sides, holding the traditional enigmatic cylindrical objects. His wig has rounded ends on the back of his shoulder, leaving his ears uncovered and he is wearing the shendyt kilt. The face is damaged, the left arm is missing, part of kilt is missing and the left leg and right foot restored.
The back pillar of the statue is inscribed with hieroglyphic inscriptions bearing his name, titles and prayers to gods Amun, Mut and Khonsu (the Theban Triad) together with god Min. The size of this statue is usually reserved for kings and gods, indicating that Horemheb was considered an elite.
Place of discovery: Thebes East, Karnak Temple (Ipet-Isut) Precinct of Amun, Court of the Cachette, Karnak Cachette.
Size: H. 51 cm
Material: Greywacke
This block statue is an example of a reintroduction of Middle Kingdom stylistic features, which is a characteristic element of the 25th Dynasty art. These statues depict their owners with their legs drawn tightly up against their chests and their arms folded on top of their knees. This block form would have protected them from damage since they were placed in temple gateways to ensure that the deceased would stay forever near the god and receive a part of the divine offerings and prayers. The head of the statue is projected from the body, probably to indicate the soul emerging from a mound in the underworld at the moment of rebirth.
This block statue depicts Hor, who was the son of Ankh-khonsu and a Prophet of Montu, and was dedicated to him by his grandson, also called Hor. His family was part of the Theban clergy for over five generations. It represents him seated on a low cushion with his legs drawn tightly up against his torso and his right forearm crossed over the left, where his hands hold rolls of cloth or papyri. He is wearing a beautifully engraved double wig, a long kilt and an inscribed belt. His face is thin with almond-shaped eyes, a hollow nose and big ears projecting from the double wig. The chin is supported and attached to the cubed body.
Six horizontal lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions are incised on his kilt together with one vertical line between his feet and one horizontal line goes around the base of the statue.
Dynasty: 26th dynasty, reign of Ahmose II (Amasis) Khnumibre (c. 570-526 BC)
Place of discovery: Memphite Region, Saqqara North, Tomb of Psamtek
Size: H 97.00 cm W 29.00 cm D/L 103.00 cm
Material: Greywacke
This statue of goddess Hathor was discovered together with two other statues of goddess Isis JE 38929 and god Osiris JE 38928 in the tomb of Psamtek, a high official of the late 26th Dynasty, who bears many titles as the Overseer of the Seals and the Governor of the Palace. These three statues are superb examples of their era, specifically the reintroduction of Old Kingdom stylistic features such as the smooth and rounded surfaces that contrast with the very hard stone.
Hathor is normally depicted as a cow or a woman wearing horns or cow ears and was worshiped throughout Egypt from the early Predynastic period as a member of the divine triad of Dendera together with Horus-Behdety and their son Ihy. She was associated with joy, beauty, dance and life, and carried many titles including Mistress of Life and Lady of Stars. Hathor was associated with motherhood as well as gems and precious materials, especially turquoise and gold. As Mistress of Turquoise, she is associated with a number of turquoise mines in the Sinai that bear her name.
This sculpture of the deceased with the goddess Hathor, in the form of a cow, portrays similarities to New Kingdom royal statuary, and is no doubt inspired by the chapel from the Temple of Tuthmose III at Deir el-Bahri in Thebes JE 38574-5. The modelling of the goddess is elegant in its proportions with well-defined muscular features. Her horns are incorporated into her usual crown with sun-disk and uraeus, together with two feathers. She wears a necklace composed of numerous strings of small beads gathered at each end and threaded through two or larger circular beads with a menat counterweight on her back, an emblem sacred to Hathor. Psamtek, as a pendant of her necklace, emerges from under her protection, as indicated by her left foot forward. He wears a simple bag wig and a pendant, possibly a seal, of his own. His palms are placed on his long kilt, which is inscribed with his name and titles. In keeping with the style of the companion pieces, the offering prayer is inscribed around the base in hieroglyphics.
Dynasty: 26th Dynasty, reign of Ahmose II (Amasis) Khnumibre, (c. 570-526 BC)
Place of discovery: Memphite Region, Saqqara: North, Horemheb Area, Psamtek
Size: H 89.50 cm W 28.00 cm D/L 46.00 cm
Material: Greywacke
This statue of the god Osiris was found together with two companion statues of the goddesses Isis (JE 38929) and Hathor (JE 38927) in the tomb of Psamtek, a high official of the late 26th Dynasty, who bears many titles as the Overseer of the Seals and the Governor of the Palace. These three statues are superb examples of their era, specifically the reintroduction of Old Kingdom stylistic features such as the smooth and rounded surfaces that contrast with the very hard stone.
Osiris was the god of the deceased, master of the underworld, afterlife and lord of eternity. According to the Heliopolis Ennead, Osiris was the son of Geb and Nut, the god of the earth and the goddess of the sky respectively, and was one of at least four siblings. He was also the brother/husband of Isis, the goddess of motherhood, magic, fertility, healing and rebirth. His brother Seth was the god of war, chaos and storms; and his sister Nephthys, wife of Seth, assisted in funerary rites, working with her sister Isis in a protective role. In some versions of the mythology there is another brother, Horus the Elder (Horus the Great). Osiris was also the father of Horus (the younger).
According to Egyptian mythology, Osiris ruled Egypt, providing civilisation to his people through the knowledge of agriculture and the law. Seth was extremely jealous of his brother and killed him, dismembering and distributing the corpse throughout the many Nomes of Egypt. On the death of Osiris, Seth became king of Egypt with his sister/wife Nephthys. Isis mourned her husband, and with her great magical powers decided to find and bring him back to life. With the help of her sister Nephthys, Isis searched every Egyptian Nome, collecting the pieces of her husband’s corpse, reassembling and holding them together with linen wrappings. Isis breathed life back into his body to resurrected him and soon conceived their child Horus (the younger). Osiris then descended into the underworld, where he became its ruler.
This statue depicts Osiris sitting on a throne in a mummified form wearing a close-fitting enveloping garment, a divine beard attached to his chin, and the Atef crown flanked by two ostrich feathers, adorned with the uraeus cobra. He holds the royal crook and flail with his arms crossed on his chest. The base of the statue is inscribed with an offering prayer, while the back pillar of the statue is not inscribed.
Place of discovery: Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut Deir el-Bahri Thebes, MMA (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) in 1928
Size: H 62.00 cm W 33.00 cm D/L 108.00 cm
Material: Painted Limestone
These fragments are part of a large relief wall commissioned by queen Hatshepsut to commemorate an important trade expedition sent by the queen to Punt, a country situated somewhere on the Red Sea coast south of Egypt, probably in the region of present-day Somalia/Eritrea. This expedition sent in order to obtain exotic goods for her treasury and her pleasure – exotic animals, gold, incense materials, ebony and even trees for the temple garden. One of the relief depicts king Parehu and queen Ati. The king is very slender and wears a kilt with a long sash, two under-tassels and a dagger tucked into the waistband. His long, slender beard distinguishes him as a foreigner. The queen is excessively overweight with extreme curvature of the spine, rolls of fat on arms, body and legs. She wears a sleeveless dress, belted at the waist, a necklace with large disk beads, bracelets and anklets. On the right edge is a partial depiction of two rows of gold rings in baskets and a third of undetermined identification.
Place of discovery: Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut Deir el-Bahri Thebes, MMA (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) in 1928
Size: Height: 62 cm, width: 33 cm, Depth: 108cm
Material: Painted Limestone
The body of this sphinx of Hatshepsut, as pharaoh, is rendered in typical style with the front legs extending forward and the tail curling around the right rear leg. The style of the head, however, pays homage to characteristics of those of the late 12th dynasty, effecting a more leonine quality by replacing the usual nemes crown with a thick, stylized mane. The neatly-arranged fur covers her head, meeting the forehead with a broad band. The mane also frames her face ending at the long false beard and extends down the from the legs to the “elbows”. Her face reflects the typical elements of her portraits: delicate and feminine, with large “half-moon” eyes and high, arched brows, both of which extend in a long cosmetic line. The nose (broken) is slim and the mouth small with a hint of a prim smile. The ingenuous character of the face stands in stark contrast with the power exuded by the leonine aspects of the sculpture. A line of inscription extending from just below the beard to the base between the paws reads: “Maatkare [her coronation name], beloved of Amun, endowed with life forever.” Traces of the blue and yellow paint can be seen. This sphinx, the embodiment of the power and might of the pharaoh, is thought to have been placed at the ramp between the lower and middle terraces at her temple at Deir el-Bahri.
Place of discovery: Abydos, Excavated by W.M.F. Petrie for the EEF (Egypt Exploration Fund) in 1903
Size: Height: 226 cm, width: 106 cm
Material: Limestone
This commemorative stela, bears a vignette and inscription dedicated to queen Tetisheri, the maternal grandmother of king Ahmose who founded the mighty 18th dynasty. It is topped by a winged disk incorporating two cobras, a symbol of royal protection. The vignette consists of a mirror image of an almost identical scene in which the king makes offering to the queen. She is seated on a throne on a dais holding, in both instances in her left hand, a fly whisk, a common accoutrement for royal women, and she wears plain sheath dress and broad collar. Her head is adorned with the vulture crown, identifying her as mother to the heir to the throne, to which is added two plumes (probably ostrich). Her right hand is extended to receive the various offerings of food and cosmetics. King Ahmose stands, in both instances, behind the tables with his right hand in a gesture that indicates the giving of the offerings. In his left hand he holds his stick and a mace with a pear-shaped head. He wears a simple kilt with an fringed apron and the royal tail accoutrement. The artist has made some minor adjustments to the symmetrical arrangement (a common device in Egyptian art) in order to maintain the verisimilitude of the ritual – the whisk is always held in the left hand and the gestures here are properly made with the right.
The staff is carried, as usual, in the left hand; however, the mace was generally depicted in the right hand, ready to defend, but here, the king has retired it to his left in deference to his presentation to his esteemed grandmother. The inscriptions in the vignette give the names and titles of the king and queen, while the 17 preserved lines below refer to the creation of offerings for Tetisheri’s shrine in Abydos, where this stela was found, and the intention of the king to build her a pyramid and temple, the remains of which can be identified on a terrace near the cliffs.
Place of discovery: Asasif, Excavated by A. Lansing for the MMA (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) in 1915
Size: Height: 30 cm, width: 50 cm
Material: Painted Limestone
Rectangular funerary stela with four people. Three on a bench at left, female and male, with beard, embracing another male, who is placed between them. The name Intef between the men faces the same direction as the bearded man. To the right of this group is an offering table with foodstuffs and jars beneath. Another female inscribed as “his sister Hepyt « stands to the right of the table. Both males wear white kilts and green collars and bracelets, have short wigs and one on right with beard. The women wear white sheath dresses and green collars, bracelets and anklets. Male skin tone red/brown, female yellow/beige. Mirror in fitted case under the chair of woman on left. Offering prayer inscribed above in green.
Place of discovery: Saqqara, Excavated by C. Firth for the EAS (Egyptian Antiquities Service) in 1921
Size: Height: 110cm, width: 63 cm, Depth: 96 cm
Material: Limestone
The genre known as block statues originated during the Middle Kingdom and became increasingly popular in subsequent periods. This example is one of two commissioned by Hetep, each virtually identical but one was sculpted in limestone (this example) and the other in granite. The reason for the style is unclear: it may have been simply a way to produce a required image at minimal time and cost. Hetep is represented as sitting in a sedan chair, the type that was carried by means of poles attached for several men to lift and carry. Passengers would sit on a cushion and bend the legs, as the litters were not designed to stretch out the legs. The poles are eliminated here but the curved back is portrayed. Hetep’s arms are modeled in high relief, crossed over at the top of the block. His legs, also in high relief, emerge from the block at front and his feet rest on the bottom of the chair. He wears a flaring wig that shows his ears, and a false beard of formality. The ears are large and the eyes wide open and wide set, in keeping with the style of the time. His nose and mouth are damaged. The inscriptions that are carved vertically on the front sides of the chair and continue at the base give his name and titles and the offering prayer.
Place of discovery: San el-Hagar, Excavated by A. Mariette for the EAS (Egyptian Antiquities Service) in 1860
Size: Height: 165cm, width: 54 cm
Material: Granodiorite
Nofret, queen of Senwosret II, on a low backed seat. Her left arm is bent at the elbow, reaching across to touch her right arm just below the bicep. Her right hand is flat on her thigh. She wears a sheath dress, a pectoral bearing the name Khakheperre (Senwosret II), and a heavy “Hathor” wig with uraeus. Her nose is broken off. Her proper left upper arm, proper right lower arm, stomach, and the lower part of the statue, from mid-shin down, has been reconstructed, based on an almost identical statue of the queen (CG 382). There are vertical columns of hieroglyphs inscribed on the front of the throne, flanking the queen’s legs. Although most of these texts are missing, they would have given Nofret’s name and titles.
Place of discovery: Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, TT103 Dagi
Size: Height: 110 cm, width: 126 cm, Length: 292cm
Material: Painted Limestone
Rectangular sarcophagus of Governer of the Town and Vizier Dagi. There is one line of funerary inscription that goes around all sides of the exterior of the box. One of the long sides is decorated with a pair of wedjat eyes. The interior of the sarcophagus is adorned with images of funerary equipment, painted in color, along with hieroglyphic inscriptions in black.
Place of discovery: Saqqara, Excavated by A. Mariette for the EAS (Egyptian Antiquities Service) in 1861
Size: Height: 315 cm, width: 210 cm
Material: Painted limestone
False door of Iteti Ankhiris, with outer lintel and jambs, slab stela, inner lintel and jambs, mat roll, and statue of the deceased. The outer lintel is uninscribed, and bears no text. On each outer jamb are three columns of text above a figure of Iteti. On the panel, Iteti sits, facing proper right, before an offering table. On the inner lintel is an offering prayer in two horizontal lines and an image of Iteti seated. On each inner jamb are six columns of text comprising an offering list above an image of Iteti standing. The name of the deceased is on the mat roll. In the central niche is a figure of Iteti carved half in the round, standing on a high threshold with his arms at his sides, holding cylindrical objects in his fists. He wears a round wig and a knee-length kilt with a pleated flap. The pigment is well preserved towards the bottom of the door.
Place of discovery: Meir, Excavated for the EAS (Egyptian Antiquities Service) in 1894
Size: H. 36 cm
Material: Painted Wood
Striding statue of the porter, Niankhpepikem (“servant of Niankhpepi”), carrying a back pack (perhaps a medical bag) and a basket. The forward motion indicated by the stride illustrates his eternal portering service for his master, Niankhpepi, in whose tomb this figure was placed for such purpose. The figure of the servant is simple but well executed, dressed in a simple sheath kilt and wearing his hair, or perhaps a wig, neatly dressed in horizontal rows of short braids or twists radiating from the crown of the head. His load features a unique rendition of an ingenious carrying arrangement for one arm – a strap is attached to the right side of the pack and then is passed over the front chest and wraps tightly around the bent left arm help balance the load. The intricate decoration and bright colors of the pack and basket provide a colorful contrast to the simple figure. The pack features a leopard skin design bordered in red, white and green. The legs are pointed, a curious shape for resting the pack on the ground – perhaps they were driven into soft ground or sand to ensure stability. The basket with a colored diamond design, carefully rendered in black, white, yellow, and blue/green, has a handle; yet, our porter chooses to balance it on his right palm. Statuettes such as these were placed in tombs to ensure that the owner would enjoy all the creature comforts, such as servants, in the Afterlife as he or she had in this life – one wonders what the servants thought about this.
Group statue of Pa-shery-n-ta-isui, with his wife Nefrt-iy-u and their son Ash-akhet, together on one seat with a high semi-rounded backrest. Pa-shery-n-ta-isui was Mayor of Xois Khasut, modern day Sakha in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate. He is depicted seated in the centre wearing a smooth wig, his ears are well exposed. He wears a long robe that only reveal his feet and his left hand, which is flat on the chest, projects from the robe held by the right fist. The V-neck of the robe is strongly marked revealing the garment worn underneath.
On the right, his son Ash-akhet is wearing the same wig and a garment composed of a long skirt held by a cord that passes around the neck and is tied on the front part of the costume. He holds a piece of cloth in his right hand, while his left arm is placed behind Pa-shery-n-ta-isui and probably joining the right arm of Nefrt-iy-u. On the left, his wife Nefrt-iy-u is dressed in the traditional women’s costume and wears a smooth wig revealing her ears. Her left hand is placed flat on her knees.
Five columns of hieroglyphic inscription are engraved on the garments of the group and between their legs. Both sides of the seat are also engraved with six vertical lines of hieroglyphic text, one of which is continued on the upper edge of the seat’s back. On the back of the seat a very long text of twenty-four columns, divided into two parts can be read. The first is composed of seven columns, written from right to left; while the other has seventeen, written from left to right.
The provenance and date of this statue have long been uncertain, but both are now assured through a series of archival documents.
Dynasty: 26th Dynasty, reign of Psamtek I Wahibre, (c. 664-610 BC)
Size: H 74.00 cm W 62.60 cm D/L 47.50 cm
Place of discovery: Thebes East, Karnak Temple (Ipet-Isut) Precinct of Amun, Court of the Cachette, Karnak Cachette
Material: Quartzite
Image Gallery
This statue of a seated scribe is an attempt to emulate the Old Kingdom sculptural ideals, a characteristic element of this period. Pa-di-amen-opet, son of (N)a-menkh-ast is the Chief Lector Priest and a Scribe, clearly a man of high rank. He is depicted in the regular pose of the scribes with cross-legs and a papyrus scroll placed upon his tightly stretched kilt, his left hand is holding the scroll and his right poised to write upon it. He is looking ahead, ready to receive dictation or information. The receding hairline references the Old Kingdom iconography of portraying a mature and successful official. His face serene and confident, his mouth and eyes are rendered slightly different to what was usual at the time for portraiture. His shoulders are broad and square, and the torso is indicative of the precision of modelling and polish of 26th Dynasty hard stone statues. He has well-defined muscular forearms and the lower legs and at some point, the right knee of the statue was broken off and restored. Inscriptions on the scroll provide his name and titles, while the two lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions framed between two horizontal lines around the semi-circular base bear various prayers.
Scribes held a high position in ancient Egypt, as they were closely related to the pharaoh. There are many statues of seated scribes with a papyrus roll placed on their laps, on which they recorded many important State and private documents. A scribe would record the tax collection process and harvest calculations; they accompanied soldiers in military campaigns; and providing their services, especially in editing letters and wills and reading correspondence.
High quality papyrus was not available to everyone, therefore other more readily available materials could be used. Written documents have been found on recycled papyrus, pieces of wood, pottery and limestone. They could write on both sides of an object and at other times they used an impermeable adhesive on wood panels, in order to reuse a surface. Scribes used black ink to write texts, while red ink was for dates, titles and headings to distinguish them from the rest of the text or even in corrections. They used reeds as writing implements, allowing them to vary the line thickness. Reeds were held in a palette, usually made of wood, which had depressions to hold the red and black inks.
Place of discovery: Thebes East, Karnak Temple (Ipet-Isut) Precinct of Amun, Court of the Cachette, Karnak Cachette
Material: Greywacke
Image Gallery
This statue depicts Nes-pa-ka–shuti, the Theban Vizier of King Psamtek I, in the typical pose of the scribes with cross legs. Seated scribes such as this indicate an attempt to emulate the Old Kingdom sculptural ideals, a characteristic element of the 26th Dynasty. He is depicted wearing a striped wig with no centre hair-parting and pinned behind his ears. He is wearing a short un-pleated skirt secured by an unadorned belt and his hands grip the edge of his kilt and an inscribed papyrus. There is no attempt to suggest he is holding a writing implement. His left foot disappears under his right leg, while the big toe of his right foot is visible from the front and the four others lie flat on the base of the statue. His nose and his both fists are chipped. A line of hieroglyphic inscriptions goes around the base of the statue in addition to sixteen vertical lines incised on his kilt, four on each side and eight in the middle, bearing his name and titles.
Scribes held a high position in ancient Egypt, as they were closely related to the pharaoh. There are many statues of seated scribes with a papyrus roll placed on their laps, on which they recorded many important State and private documents. A scribe would record the tax collection process and harvest calculations; they accompanied soldiers in military campaigns; and providing their services, especially in editing letters and wills and reading correspondence.
High quality papyrus was not available to everyone, therefore other more readily available materials could be used. Written documents have been found on recycled papyrus, pieces of wood, pottery and limestone. They could write on both sides of an object and at other times they used an impermeable adhesive on wood panels, in order to reuse a surface. Scribes used black ink to write texts, while red ink was for dates, titles and headings to distinguish them from the rest of the text or even in corrections. They used reeds as writing implements, allowing them to vary the line thickness. Reeds were held in a palette, usually made of wood, which had depressions to hold the red and black inks.
Dynasty: 26th Dynasty, reign of Ahmose II (Amasis) Khnumibre, (c. 570-526 BC)
Size: H 89.00 cm W 21.00 cm D/L 46.00 cm
Place of discovery: Memphite Region, Saqqara: North, Horemheb Area, Psamtek
Material: Greywacke
Image Gallery
This statue of the goddess Isis was found together with two companion statues of the god Osiris JE 38928 and the goddess Hathor (JE 38927) in the tomb of Psamtek, a high official of the late 26th Dynasty, who bears many titles as the Overseer of the Seals and the Governor of the Palace. These three statues are superb examples of their era, specifically the reintroduction of Old Kingdom stylistic features such as the smooth and rounded surfaces that contrast with the very hard stone.
Isis was the goddess of motherhood, magic, fertility, healing and rebirth. According to the Heliopolis Ennead, Isis was the daughter of Geb, the god of the earth and goddess of the sky respectively, and was one of at least four siblings. She was also the sister/wife of Osiris, the god of the underworld and lord of eternity. Her brother Seth was the god of war, chaos and storms; and her sister Nephthys, wife of Seth, assisted in funerary rites, working with Isis in a protective role. In some versions of the mythology there is another brother, Horus the Elder (Horus the Great). Osiris was also the father of Horus (the younger).
According to Egyptian mythology, Osiris ruled Egypt, providing civilisation to his people through the knowledge of agriculture and the law. Seth was extremely jealous of his brother and killed him, dismembering and distributing the corpse throughout the many Nomes of Egypt. On the death of Osiris, Seth became king of Egypt with his sister/wife Nephthys. Isis mourned her husband, and with her great magical powers decided to find and bring him back to life. With the help of her sister Nephthys, Isis searched every Egyptian Nome, collecting the pieces of her husband’s corpse, reassembling and holding them together with linen wrappings. Isis breathed life back into his body to resurrected him and, soon conceived their child Horus (the younger). Osiris then descended into the underworld, where he became its ruler.
This statue depicts Isis seated on a throne, wearing a crown with the sun-disk enveloped by cow’s horns, indicating her association with the goddess Hathor. She is wearing a three-part wig that is held behind her ears, on which sits the uraeus cobra and she holds an ankh-sign symbol of life in her right hand. There is a clean simplicity in how her close-fitting tunic where even the straps of her dress are excluded, the only concession to clothing being the hem at the ankles. The base of the statue is inscribed with an offering prayer, while the back pillar of the statue is not inscribed.
Place of discovery: El-Lisht, Excavated by A. Lythgoe for the MMA (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) in 1914
Material: Painted Wood
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Striding statue, left leg forward, of king in the white crown, of cedar wood. The figure is uninscribed, and is now assigned to the reign of Senwosret I. The features of the face are regular, with the eyes painted with black irises and white sclera. The king wears a knee-length kilt, painted white, with the pleated side flaps, the pleats indicated in red pigment. He hold a full-length crook, its lowest part broken away, in his proper left hand; his right hand hangs by his side, fisted to hold an object (probably a scepter of some sort) that is now missing. His body is muscular and his feet, attached to a rectangular base, are bare. The exposed skin is painted a dark reddish-brown. The sculpture is in excellent condition, and is almost completely intact.
King Amenemhat III built his pyramid at Hawara in Fayum but also a cenotaph in Dahshur where his predecessor Amenemhat II had been buried. The pyramidion was at the top of this structure and is decorated on the east side with a winged sun disk flanked by two uraeus cobras and two eyes over the hieroglyphic text that celebrates the sun god Ra.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty, Reigns of Thutmosis III (1479-1425 BC) – Amenhotep II (1425-1400 BC)
Size: Height: 225 cm, Lenght: 227 cm
Place of discovery: Deir el Bahari – Temple of Thutmosis III (Thebes West)
Material: Painted sandstone
The goddess Hathor like cow protects king Amenhotep II, son and successor of Thutmosis III who stands below her neck: the cow is surrounded by papyrus stems and wears the Hathoric horns with the solar disk with two short plumes and the uraeus (cobra).
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty, reign of Thutmosis III (1479-1425 BC)
Size: Height: 225 cm, Width: 157 cm, Length: 404 cm
Place of discovery: Deir el Bahari – Temple of Thutmosis III (Thebes West)
Material: Painted sandstone
This shrine with the statue of the Goddess Hathor like cow built by Thutmosis III was found in 1906 near the temple of Mentuhotep at Deir el-Bahari. The roof is painted blue with yellow stars to imitate the Vault of Heaven, and on the back wall, the king makes libations and burns incense before Amun-Ra. The original colors have been perfectly conserved.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty, Reign of Hatshepsut (1479-1458 BC)
Size: Height: 49,3 cm, Width: 45 cm
Place of discovery: Deir el Bahari – Temple of Hatshepsut (Thebes West)
Material: Painted limestone
Two reliefs come from the Punt portico in the second terrace of the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari and are part of a group of scenes illustrating an expedition to the Land of Punt in the southern part of the Red Sea made during the ninth year of Hatshepsut reign. The main scene shows the king of Punt Parehu followed by his wife Ati, and several men carrying some of the products of Punt: incense, myrrh, gold, and ivory.
Oedipe (Oedipus), according to Greek mythology was the son of Laius and Jocasta, the king and queen of Thebes. When he was born the king consulted an oracle that revealed he was condemned to die at the hands of his son. Because of this prediction, the parents ordered a servant to kill the child; however, the servant took pity on the child and gave him to a shepherd. The shepherd called him Oedipus or ‘swollen feet’ since his feet had been tied tightly by Laius. Oedipus was taken to Corinth and was given to King Polybus and his wife Merope, who decided to raise him as his own. As an adult Oedipe went to the oracle of Delphi wanting to know if he was the son of the king and queen of Corinth, but instead the oracle told him that he had a dark destiny whereby he would kill his father and marry his mother. To evade the oracle’s prediction, Oedipe decided to leave Corinth and head to Thebes.
On his way to Thebes he came across King Laius riding his chariot at a narrow spot on the road. The king ordered Oedipe to move aside, resulting in an argument, leading to the king to killing one of Oedipus’s horses. Oedipe in return drags the king from his chariot and killed him not knowing that he is his real father.
Before entering Thebes, Oedipe met the guardian sphinx of the city, with the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lioness and the wings of an eagle. She was sent as punishment from Hera or Ares, as mentioned in the latest version of the myth. The sphinx would stop all travellers unable to solve certain riddles such as: What creature with one voice moves on four legs in the morning, two legs at midday and three in the evening? The answer is man during his life stages. Another riddle mention asks: Two sisters one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. The answer was the day and the night.
Oedipe answered this riddle correctly and the Sphinx was destroyed by either throwing herself from her high pedestal, killed by him, or in a third version, devouring herself. As a reward for liberating Thebes Oedipe was offered the hand of the Dowager Queen Jocasta, subsequently becoming king of Thebes, not knowing that she was in deeded his mother. However, Oedipe struggled in his duties and the oracle warned that the only solution was to kill any eyewitnesses the fight, but Jocasta had already started the search for a witness to murder of her former husband. On questioning the witness, Oedipe realised that he was the son of the king and queen of Thebes and that he had killed his father and married his mother as the oracle predicted. At this realisation, Jocasta ran to the palace and hung herself in her rooms. When Oedipe discovered her body, he stabbed his eyes with the needles of his robe, left the palace and asked for quick punishment. He blinded himself because he could not bear to look on the faces of his parents, his family or the people of Thebes.
This wall frieze, framed with a band of three lines in blue, yellow and black, decorated a tomb wall and illustrates three major moments in Oedipe’s life. Read from right to left, the first scene depicts Oedipe slaying his father Laius, king of Thebes. Oedipe is represented nude except for his brown high boots flowing reddish–brown cape, and the baldric of his sword, grasping his father’s hair with one hand, while the other plunges the sword into his body. Behind the king a stela is represented to mark his grave, next to which the figure of Agnoia, personification of ignorance is dancing.
The central scene depicts the god Zetema and the goddess of Thebes. Zetema (whose name means Inquiry and search) is depicted as a young man seated with his legs to his left, looking back to the right, towards Oedipe, wearing a green himation garment wrapped around his lower body. Thebes is depicted as a young female wearing a light brown himation wrapped at her lower body and resting against a rocky ridge that probably indicates Mount Kithairon. The third scene, depicts Oedipe opposing the sphinx outside the city walls inside a stone arched gateway, his left hand grasps the hilt of his sword, while his right arm is raised. The winged sphinx crouches on a high pedestal in Greek style.
This alabaster head is the remain of a small statuette of Alexander the Great: the emperor has been given long thick curls held in place by a band that was an emblem of royalty in portraits of Macedon: Probably a crown was inserted on top of the head.
Place of discovery: Abusir – Sun temple of Userkaf
Material: Greywacke
Userkaf was the first king of the 5th Dynasty and for the first time associated a solar temple with a funerary temple and is depicted with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. This beautiful uninscribed head, found in 1957 during the joint excavations of German and Swiss Institutes in Cairo, is one of the masterpieces of the Old Kingdom sculpture.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep IV- Akhenaten (1353-1336 BC)
Size: Height: 35,5 cm
Place of discovery: Tell el- Amarna
Material: Quartzite, pigment
This beautifully unfinished head of Queen Nefertiti, the royal wife of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) recalls the iconic beauty of the famous bust now in Neues Museum in Berlin and present her as an idealized royal figure but, despite the unfinished state of the sculpture the classic elements of Nefertiti’s facial features are still visible. The origins of Nefertiti (his name means «The beautiful one who has come») have not yet been fully clarified but we know that she got married at 13-year-old during the first three years of Akhenaten’s reign. This masterpiece of the Egyptian sculpture cade according to the canons of Amarna style of art, was discovered in 1933 during the excavations at Tell el-Amarna by the Egypt Exploration Society in a sculptor’s workshop that produced composite sculpture pieces and this head was intended to be mounted on a composite statue: the black guidelines on the queen’s face give us an idea how the sculptor worked.
Dynasty: 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II (1479-1458 BC)
Size: Height: 231 cm
Place of discovery: Tanis, San el-Hagar
Material: Granodiorite
This statue represents Ramesses II as a child (mes), naked, with his finger on his lips, wearing a lock of hair (known as the side-lock of youth) to the right side of his head, surmounted by a sun disk (ra) and his left-hand grasps a rush (su). The King is under the protection of a falcon god called Horun, a deity from the mountains of Lebanon associated with the god Hamakhis «Horus of the Horizon». This statue is a monumental transposition on the stone of the name of king Ramesu.
Dynasty: Dynasty 4, Reign of Snefru (2543-2510 BC)
Size: Height: 52 cm – Width: 52-53,5 – Length: 99 cm – Poles length: 99 cm
Place of discovery: Giza, Tomb of Hetepheres I
Material: Wood and gold leaf
Hetepheres was the wife of Snefru, the first king of the 4th Dynasty and mother of Khufu: his sedan chair with two carrying poles decorated with palmiform capitals was found by the American archeologist George Reisner in 1925. It is the only example of this kind of chair that survived to the present day. Ebony panels with golden hieroglyphs that give the names and epithets of the queen adorn the back of the chair.
The so-called “Reserve heads” (about thirty are known) have been found in the sarcophagus chambers of the mastabas belonging to high dignitaries at the time of the Fourth Dynasty. The function of these enigmatic sculptures made on limestone and subsequently modeled with plaster but without elements of social identification is still not clear and in this regard, there are several theories: representations of the tomb-owner, alternate home for the spirit of the deceased, magical purposes but there are no proofs.
Dynasty: 18th Dynasty, Reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1353 BC)
Size: Height: 700 cm, Width: 440 cm
Place of discovery: Thebes West – Temple of Amenhotep III
Material: Limestone
This statuary group (dyad) found in pieces by Auguste Mariette in 1839 dominates the Central Hall and is the largest artifact in the entire museum and represents the pharaoh Amenhotep III sitting on his throne with Queen Tiy at his side and their daughters Henuttaneb (in central position), Nebetah and another princess without name in smaller scale. The king is depicted with the classic nemes headdress and the queen with an imposing wig.
Dynasty: Dynasty 18, reign of Hatshepsut (1479-1458 BC)
Size: Height: 61 cm, Width: 55 cm
Place of discovery: Thebes, Deir el-Bahari, Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut
Material: Painted Limestone
This head comes from one of the twenty-four colossal Osiris statues that decorate the portico of the third terrace of her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahari. Hatshepsut was the sister-wife of Thutmosis II and become the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. The queen is portrayed as Osiris with male attributes like the ceremonial beard and depicted with reddish-brown skin, a colour usually restricted to men in ancient Egyptian art, in contrast to the pale yellowish colour reserved for women.
Dynasty: Dynasty 11, Reign of Mentuhotep II (ca. 1980-1940 BC)
Size: Height 138 cm
Place of discovery: Thebes West, Deir el-Bahari, Mortuary Temple of Mentuhotep II
Material: Painted Sandstone
This life-size seated statue of the king Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II (names meaning: «The Lord of the rudder is Ra» and «Montu is satisfied») considered the reunifier of Egypt after the First Intermediate Period and the first king of the Middle Kingdom was discovered wrapped in fine linen in 1900 by Howard Carter inside the subterranean chamber of the mortuary complex of this king at Deir el Bahari (Thebes West). The king is represented seated on a cubic throne, wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt a short white cloak associated with the jubilee festival with the divine beard, the arms crossed and the hands that originally held the royal insignia, the crook, and the flail. The skin of the statue is painted in black color connected with the god Osiris with whom the king is identified.
Dynasty: Dynasty 4, Reign of Snefru (ca. 2575-2551 BC)
Size: Height: 29 cm, Length: 174 cm
Place of discovery: Meidum, Mastaba of Nefermaat
Material: Paint on plaster
Many tombs from ancient Egypt were plastered and painted. This technique was faster and more economical than relief-carving on stone and high-quality stone was not necessary for the production of high-quality works of art. This particular panel is exceptional in the skill in which it was painted. The scene contains six geese in two groups of three depicted in a garden. The plumage is beautifully rendered. Two different species of geese are accurately represented. This painting is part of a larger scene in a tomb, the remains of which support the fact that this painting is genuine.
Dynasty: Late Dynasty 5 – Early Dynasty 6 (24th – 23rd Century BC)
Size: H. 43 cm, W. 22,5 cm
Place of discovery: Giza, Tomb of Seneb
Material: Painted Limestone
This group statue of Seneb and his family was found in a naos in his mastaba tomb in Giza. Seneb is represented seated, with his legs crossed, beside his wife who embraces him affectionately. His wife is of normal height. For the sake of the symmetry of the composition, the sculptor carves the couple’s two children where Seneb’s legs would have been, had he been of the same height as his wife. The children are represented naked, with their index fingers in their mouths–the standard manner in which children were typically depicted in art. The boy is seen on the viewer’s left, wearing a sidelock of youth and depicted in a darker skin than his sister’s, who stands on his left. The sidelock of youth was typically worn by male children and was cut off at puberty.
The inscriptions on the base and the front of the seat tell us that Seneb was the funerary priest of the deceased kings Khufu and Djedefra, and in charge of the royal wardrobe.
Seneb’s tomb is very interesting, for it has the first ceiling dome over a square chamber.
Dynasty: Dynasty 4, Reign of Snofru (ca. 2613-2589 BC)
Size: Height of Rahotep 121 cm; Height of Nofret 122 cm
Place of discovery: Mastaba of Rahotep, Meidum
Material: Painted Limestone, eyes inlaid with rock-crystal, calcite and outlined with copper
These two statues represent prince Rahotep–son of Snofru and brother of Khufu–and his wife Nofret. They were created during the transitional period between the Third and Fourth Dynasties and are very good illustrations of the strict canons that governed the art of this period in Egyptian history. The two statues are very frontal and idealized, since they represented how the deceased figures wished to appear in the afterlife. Rahotep is painted reddish-brown, the colour men were customarily represented with, since they spent a great deal of time in the sun. Nofret is depicted in a pale yellowish colour, as most women were represented in ancient Egypt. Their pose is very typical of this time in ancient Egyptian history. The colours on these statues are extremely well preserved. This and their very realistic eyes, inlaid with rock-crystal, calcite, and outlined with copper make these statues among the most impressive pieces in the Egyptian Museum.
Place of discovery: Abydos (Upper Egypt) – Temple of Osiris at Kom el-Sultan
Material: Ivory
This small statue found in 1903 by the British archeologist Sir William Flinders Petrie is the only known three-dimensional representation of King Khufu (called by the Greeks Cheops), the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Khufu is represented seated on a throne wearing the crown of Lower Egypt(damaged) and holding a flail in his right hand. On the right side of the throne is carved his name: Khufu is the abbreviated form of “Khnum-khuefui” (Khnum protects me).
Material: Painted Limestone; Eyes: Rock Crystal, Calcite, Copper
During the Old Kingdom officials often commissioned statues for their tombs depicting themselves as scribes. Only a small percentage of the population was literate and therefore the ability to read and write opened up possibilities for economic and social advancement. Individuals desired to retain their status in the afterlife and so they were careful to include images in their tombs that reflected their status and their abilities. The standard scribal pose includes the legs crossed beneath a partially spread roll of papyrus. The right hand is positioned to hold a reed pen. Those who were literate possessed the power to make something exist by putting it into writing or by repeating written words. Repetition of the offering lists in a tomb would magically supply the deceased with all that they desired.
This exceptionally beautiful scribe statue is uninscribed; the name of the subject, therefore, remains unknown. This piece is skillfully sculpted. The facial features are well modeled and, unlike most stone statues, the arms are freed from the torso. The right hand would have been holding a reed pen, while the left holds the papyrus roll.
This iconic statue is currently the logo of the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University and has also inspired the logo of the Cairo International Book Fair.
Dynasty: Dynasty 4, Reign of Khafre (ca.2472-2448 BC)
Size: Height 168 cm
Place of discovery: Giza, Valley Temple of Khafre
Material: Diorite
This beautiful statue of King Khafre (called by the Greeks Khefren) is not only one of the masterpieces of the Egyptian Museum but one of the most important sculptures of ancient Egypt. The statue was found by Auguste Mariette in 1860 during his excavations in the Valley Temple of Khafre’s pyramid complex near the Great Sphinx and was one of about 23 identical statues. The king is represented with the names headdress with a uraeus (cobra) seated on a cubic throne decorated on the two sides with the symbol to the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt called sema-tawy. Behind his head, a falcon, a symbol of the god Horus, spread his wings in a gesture of protection.
Dynasty: Dynasty 5, Reign of Userkaf (ca. 2435-2429 BC)
Size: Height 112 cm
Place of discovery: Saqqara, Mastaba of Ka-aper
Material: Wood; Eyes: Rock crystal, calcite, copper, black stone
This is one of the very few wooden statues survived to the present day. Found by Auguste Mariette in 1870 the statue, originally covered by a coat of painted plaster, represent with extreme realism the corpulent chief lector priest Ka-aper with his left foot forward, and holding a staff (now substituted with a copy) in his left hand. His eyes are inlaid with calcite, quartz, and black stone to make a like-life model.
Dynasty: 4th Dynasty, reign of Menkaure (Mycerinos) (2447-2448 BC)
Place of discovery: Giza, Valley Temple of Menkaure
Dimension: Height Between 92.5 cm and 95.5 cm
Material: Grey-green Schist
There are three statuary groups called triads (three figures) showing Menkaure with the White Crown of Upper Egypt between the goddess Hathor and the personification of one of the provinces (called nomoi) of the Upper Egypt with his respective emblem. These triads, superbly sculpted in a single block of stone and originally painted in bright colours, were found intact by the archeologist George Reisner in the valley temple of the Menkaure’s pyramid in the year 1908.
Place of discovery: Giza, Excavated by S. Hassan for the Egyptian University in 1929
Size: height: 26,7 cm, width: 10 cm
Material: Painted limestone
Painted limestone statue of a female brewer. The woman is shown in a shoulder-length wig with her natural hair visible across the forehead, a broad collar, and a calf-length skirt that leaves her torso bare. The wig is painted black, the collar blue and white, and the kilt white; her skin is a light reddish brown. She bends forward from the hips over a large ovoid vat with a ridged base and rim, painted a red-brown, into which she immerses her hands; a screen has been left between the brewer and the vat. Both vat and woman are carved on an integral oval base. The sculpture is in good condition, with some pitting and loss to the pigment. There are chips missing from the base.
Place of discovery: Hierakonpolis (Nekhen) – Aswan Governorate
Material: Siltstone
Image Gallery
This ceremonial cosmetic palette discovered by British archeologist James Quibell and Frederick Green in 1897-1898 in the temple of Horus at Nekhen (city named Hierakonpolis by Greeks) celebrates the conquest of Northern Kingdom (Lower Egypt) by Narmer, king of the Southern Kingdom (Upper Egypt) and maybe symbolize the unification of Egypt. The palette contains some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found and has been considered “the first historical document in the world”. The recto side of the palette is dominated by the depiction of the king (his name is in the rectangular enclosure called serekh flanked by two bovine heads in the upper part of the palette) wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt smiting a prisoner with a mace and the verso side by two “serpopard”, a mythological creature, mix of serpent and leopard.
Hetepdief was a funerary priest under the reign of the first three kings of the Second Dynasty, Hetepsekhemuy, Raneb, and Nynetjer: their names are engraved on the back of his shoulder within the serekh. This is the first private statue with the earliest lines of extended text. Hetepdjef is represented with an innovative and unusual pose, kneeling in an attitude of praying or as a sign of reverence toward the kings.
Dynasty: Third Dynasty, Reign of Djoser (2592 – 2566 BC)
Size: 142×45,3×95,5 cm
Place of discovery: Saqqara
Material: Painted Limestone
Statue representing King Djoser, the first ruler of the Third Dynasty and owner of the Step Pyramid in the Saqqara necropolis seated on his throne. This statue, originally painted, is the oldest know life-size statue in Egypt and has been found during the excavations of the Egyptian Antiquities Service in the years 1924-25 inside the serdab (Arabic name for «cellar») located on the east side of the Step Pyramid and now replaced by a plaster replica. The ancient robbers removed the eyes that were originally inlaid with rock crystal and obsidian. The pedestal is inscribed with the titles of the king and his Horus name Netjerkhet «His body is divine» in hieroglyphic text.
