DOI Heft:
No. 4
DOI Artikel:Brandys, Henryk: Two Egyptian statuettes of the period of the Middle Kingdom in the National Museum in Warsaw
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17160#0101
maintenance of the statuette iii the tempie the priests were responsible, uniting this duty with
preparing everyday meal for the deity9.
1. Woman's torso10 (fig. 1-3)
Inv.: 139281 MN
Fine-grained brown granitc with white veins
Height 0,08 m
Smali chipings of the nose and of the chin.
An upper fragment of a statuette representing a woman, broken at the lower part of the
chest. The face is wide with flattened, realistically treated featurcs. Upper and lower lids of
Iarge eyes are shown by smali wads. The nose is broad, slightly snug with marked nostrils.
The ronnded line of thick lips make the wide mouth a little protruding. The head is covered with
a tripartite wig set behind big, sticking out ears and falling down in coils on the back and on
the chest (may be, it is the hairdress that imitates a fashionable wig). The ears are carefully
modelled. The head, a little out of size, mounts on a short thick neck. The torso is slender,
with the thin waist. The arms are rigidly down, not wholly separated from the torso. At the
back of the head, on the left side of the wig and on the shoulder along the edge of the piece
there is a smali protuberance, probably the rest of a broken back pillar. This allows for the sup-
position that the torso is a part of a statuette of the standing typc sińce in this type the pillar
reaches usually the level of shoulder-blades just as the one of our example could do. It cannot
be excluded, however, that we are faced with another type.
Remarkable realism in portraying of the face, sometimes even brutal, gives expression
to a new trend, different from the tradition of the Ancient Kingdom lasting in the so-called
Memphis School. The representatives of the new trend, the Upper Egyptian sculptors of the
so-called Theban School, have taken a further step toward the more individual portraying.
the best evidence of whicb are excellent portraits of Se'n-Wsret III and Amun-em-het III. The
aceentuated cubist tendency visible in the shape of our statuette indicates its close connexion
with the Theban School. This feature together with the frontal composition reminds us thal
m spite of some original features — smali scupltures were only a reflection of forms of monu-
mental Egyptian sculpture11, closely tied with monumental architecture. Realistic treat-
ment of the face and the elaboration of details in our statuette remind the style pre-
vailing at the time of Se'n-Wsret III. The portraits of this sovereign bring to mind the natura-
lism and psychological depth of modern seulptures12.
A similar statuette is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Inv.: 08.202.7)13.
According to W.S. Hayes it represents one of the Queens from the time of the rules of Se'n-
-Wsret III or Amun-em-het III. More precisely modelled and of a more official character, it
undoubtedly comes from a better workshop than ours does, probably from the Court atelier.
However, both these statuettes present similar proportions and treatment of details. The face^
of both exhibit an identical shape, and similarly modelled mouth and ears. The difference in
the elaboration of eyes emphasizes the more official character of the Queen's statuette. The
deeper, uneven and unsmoothened incisions of our statuette give it a more individual expres-
sion as compared to the finished idealized features of the Queen's face. Our statuette shows
also a stronger geometrization of form, a more superficial elaboration of details and a care-
9. G. Reisner, „The Tomb of Hepzefa, Nomarch of Siut", JEA, V, 1918, pp. 79 — 98. The prinee of the district Djefai-hapi
of Siut made aa arrangement with the priest of his futurę posthumous cult that in order to confirm this cult he
would offer five statues of himself, twa of which stood in the tempie, and three in the tomb.
10. Fouilles franco-polonaises, II, Tell Edfou, 1938, Le Caire, 1938, p. 33, Nr 19, pl. IX.2.
11- V.V. Pavlov, Yeghipietskaya sculplura - malaya plastika, Moskva, 1949, p. 17.
12. Cf. K. Lange, Sesostris, Miinchen, 1954, p. 29, pl. XVIII-XXXVIII.
13. W.C. Hayes, The Scepter of Egypt, New York, 1953, fig. 122 (a fragment of black granite, 0,23 m high, state of pre-
seryation similar to our statuette).
87
preparing everyday meal for the deity9.
1. Woman's torso10 (fig. 1-3)
Inv.: 139281 MN
Fine-grained brown granitc with white veins
Height 0,08 m
Smali chipings of the nose and of the chin.
An upper fragment of a statuette representing a woman, broken at the lower part of the
chest. The face is wide with flattened, realistically treated featurcs. Upper and lower lids of
Iarge eyes are shown by smali wads. The nose is broad, slightly snug with marked nostrils.
The ronnded line of thick lips make the wide mouth a little protruding. The head is covered with
a tripartite wig set behind big, sticking out ears and falling down in coils on the back and on
the chest (may be, it is the hairdress that imitates a fashionable wig). The ears are carefully
modelled. The head, a little out of size, mounts on a short thick neck. The torso is slender,
with the thin waist. The arms are rigidly down, not wholly separated from the torso. At the
back of the head, on the left side of the wig and on the shoulder along the edge of the piece
there is a smali protuberance, probably the rest of a broken back pillar. This allows for the sup-
position that the torso is a part of a statuette of the standing typc sińce in this type the pillar
reaches usually the level of shoulder-blades just as the one of our example could do. It cannot
be excluded, however, that we are faced with another type.
Remarkable realism in portraying of the face, sometimes even brutal, gives expression
to a new trend, different from the tradition of the Ancient Kingdom lasting in the so-called
Memphis School. The representatives of the new trend, the Upper Egyptian sculptors of the
so-called Theban School, have taken a further step toward the more individual portraying.
the best evidence of whicb are excellent portraits of Se'n-Wsret III and Amun-em-het III. The
aceentuated cubist tendency visible in the shape of our statuette indicates its close connexion
with the Theban School. This feature together with the frontal composition reminds us thal
m spite of some original features — smali scupltures were only a reflection of forms of monu-
mental Egyptian sculpture11, closely tied with monumental architecture. Realistic treat-
ment of the face and the elaboration of details in our statuette remind the style pre-
vailing at the time of Se'n-Wsret III. The portraits of this sovereign bring to mind the natura-
lism and psychological depth of modern seulptures12.
A similar statuette is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Inv.: 08.202.7)13.
According to W.S. Hayes it represents one of the Queens from the time of the rules of Se'n-
-Wsret III or Amun-em-het III. More precisely modelled and of a more official character, it
undoubtedly comes from a better workshop than ours does, probably from the Court atelier.
However, both these statuettes present similar proportions and treatment of details. The face^
of both exhibit an identical shape, and similarly modelled mouth and ears. The difference in
the elaboration of eyes emphasizes the more official character of the Queen's statuette. The
deeper, uneven and unsmoothened incisions of our statuette give it a more individual expres-
sion as compared to the finished idealized features of the Queen's face. Our statuette shows
also a stronger geometrization of form, a more superficial elaboration of details and a care-
9. G. Reisner, „The Tomb of Hepzefa, Nomarch of Siut", JEA, V, 1918, pp. 79 — 98. The prinee of the district Djefai-hapi
of Siut made aa arrangement with the priest of his futurę posthumous cult that in order to confirm this cult he
would offer five statues of himself, twa of which stood in the tempie, and three in the tomb.
10. Fouilles franco-polonaises, II, Tell Edfou, 1938, Le Caire, 1938, p. 33, Nr 19, pl. IX.2.
11- V.V. Pavlov, Yeghipietskaya sculplura - malaya plastika, Moskva, 1949, p. 17.
12. Cf. K. Lange, Sesostris, Miinchen, 1954, p. 29, pl. XVIII-XXXVIII.
13. W.C. Hayes, The Scepter of Egypt, New York, 1953, fig. 122 (a fragment of black granite, 0,23 m high, state of pre-
seryation similar to our statuette).
87