DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41333#0024
Mikolaj Budzanowski
Museum.10 The two images displayed several com-
mon iconographic details: clothes, head-cover and
the presence of the Homs’ falcon in the back part of
the statue. In the case of statues from Deir el-Bahari,
it seems that each of them had its own architectural
context, while the divergence of style and dimensions
exclude any possibility that all the five were originally
located in one chamber or portico (in the latter case
we would have to account for the possibility that they
were placed in between the columns or at some
entrance).* 11 The statues seem to have been produced
at some intervals so as to fit the needs of precise
cult-chambers. Obviously, the destruction of the origi-
nal floor impedes a solution of this problem - had it
survived, we would be able to trace usual scratches
or cavities marking a statue's position.12
Owing to this, we are forced to rely on the fol-
lowing criteria:
- iconography of the person portrayed and the
throne,
- dimensions of each statue, particularly its total
height;
The first criterion accounts for the clothes the por-
trayed person wears and the way her throne was
decorated with the sml-fhvy motif. As to the former,
one should not forget that the relief decorations dis-
play a variety of the Queen’s portrayals that are iden-
tical with that emerging in full statues and ranging be-
tween her representations as a female, in a female
half-nude, or, finally, as a male. The positioning of
the heraldic plants in the sml-tiwy image, on the other
hand, denotes the location of the sculpture with re-
spect to the Nile.13 If the lily is located in the back of
a statue, the figure must have faced the river, stand-
10 Vienna, AS 5910, Kunsthistorisches Museum, SOUROU-
ZLAN, MDAIK49 (1993), pp. 255-256, pi. 51.
11 This idea was suggested by J. KARKOWSKI, Der Tempel
der Hatschepsut in Deir el-Bahari, in: Geheimnisvolle
Konigin Hatschepsut. Agyptische Kunst des 15. Jahr-
hunderts v. Chr., Warschau 1997, p. 43; IDEM, The Deco-
ration of the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, in:
Z.E. SZAFRANSKI (ed.), Queen Hatshepsut and her Temple
3500 Years Later, Warsaw 2001 (hereinafter referred to as:
Decoration of Temple of Hatshepsut), p. 151.
12 Cavities for the 23 sitting statues are well preserved in the
Valley Temple of Khafre at Giza, cf. M. SEIDEL, Die
koniglichen Statuengruppen. I. Die Denkmdler vom Alten
reich bis zum Ende der 18. Dynastie, HAB 42, Hildesheim
1996, p. 21, pi. 4a. Another well known parallel is provided
by the statuary group of Horemheb kneeling before Atum
ing on the east-west axis (fig. 2b). The lily in the
front means, by contrast, that the sculpture faced
southwards (fig. 2a). Meanwhile, the second crite-
rion, accounting for the dimensions of a given object,
will enable us to fit a given sculpture into the corre-
sponding architectural context.
The starting point of our analysis is furnished by the
representation of Hatshepsut, found in the Deir
el-Bahari14 (fig. 3). The decoration on a surviving frag-
ment of a block was made in high relief, but the paint-
ings beneath are unfortunately missing. The Queen is
depicted in a female form, sitting on a block-throne,
face to the right. The position of her arms is typical of
the niche-representations, the right one lying flat on
the thigh, while the left, bent at the elbow, is raised to
the chest as the Queen holds a piece of cloth in this
hand. The figure is clothed in the fashion befitting the
Great Royal Wife: a long, closely fitting dress supported
by two straps, and a vulture-hat over a tripartite wig.
Additionally, an outline of a necklace is still visible on
her chest. Erasures are limited to some parts of the
figure: the head together with its cover, arms to the
elbows, right palm together with the knee and partly
the thigh.15 Additionally the .fn-ring and the stem of the
sign swt have been erased from the fans in the back of
the throne. All of these attest to the purposeful nature
of the erasures.
Carving of the four signs si, dd, rnh and wls was
completed, while the ,v and the feminine form of the
pronomen s are left unfinished. The so-called chequer-
frieze that closes the whole composition disappears
at the height of the last sign. Yet, the erasures and the
attributes of the royal power that are located at the
back of the throne (the fans, destined respectively
from Luxor-cachette, M. el-S AGHIR, Das Statuenversteck
im Luxortempel, Mainz am Rhein 1992, pp. 35-40, figs. 82-
84. Scratches on the pavement are preserved together with
sitting statues of Tuthmosis I dedicated by his daughter
Hatshepsut in the newly discovered niches inside the 4th
pylon in Kamak, cf. F. LARCHE, New Statues at Kamak,
Egyptian Archaeology 16 (2000), p. 31.
13 LABOURY, Statuaire de Thoutmosis 111, p. 82.
14 Fragment of block 48 cm high and 66.5 cm wide. The
relief has been known of for a very long time, probably
discovered during the excavations of E. NAVILLE. Inter-
estingly enough the block was prepared to be robbed
from the place, as its heavy backside was carefully cut off
by a saw.
15 This unique example proofs that the erasures were made
according to certain rules. The body of the Queen has been cut
18
Museum.10 The two images displayed several com-
mon iconographic details: clothes, head-cover and
the presence of the Homs’ falcon in the back part of
the statue. In the case of statues from Deir el-Bahari,
it seems that each of them had its own architectural
context, while the divergence of style and dimensions
exclude any possibility that all the five were originally
located in one chamber or portico (in the latter case
we would have to account for the possibility that they
were placed in between the columns or at some
entrance).* 11 The statues seem to have been produced
at some intervals so as to fit the needs of precise
cult-chambers. Obviously, the destruction of the origi-
nal floor impedes a solution of this problem - had it
survived, we would be able to trace usual scratches
or cavities marking a statue's position.12
Owing to this, we are forced to rely on the fol-
lowing criteria:
- iconography of the person portrayed and the
throne,
- dimensions of each statue, particularly its total
height;
The first criterion accounts for the clothes the por-
trayed person wears and the way her throne was
decorated with the sml-fhvy motif. As to the former,
one should not forget that the relief decorations dis-
play a variety of the Queen’s portrayals that are iden-
tical with that emerging in full statues and ranging be-
tween her representations as a female, in a female
half-nude, or, finally, as a male. The positioning of
the heraldic plants in the sml-tiwy image, on the other
hand, denotes the location of the sculpture with re-
spect to the Nile.13 If the lily is located in the back of
a statue, the figure must have faced the river, stand-
10 Vienna, AS 5910, Kunsthistorisches Museum, SOUROU-
ZLAN, MDAIK49 (1993), pp. 255-256, pi. 51.
11 This idea was suggested by J. KARKOWSKI, Der Tempel
der Hatschepsut in Deir el-Bahari, in: Geheimnisvolle
Konigin Hatschepsut. Agyptische Kunst des 15. Jahr-
hunderts v. Chr., Warschau 1997, p. 43; IDEM, The Deco-
ration of the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, in:
Z.E. SZAFRANSKI (ed.), Queen Hatshepsut and her Temple
3500 Years Later, Warsaw 2001 (hereinafter referred to as:
Decoration of Temple of Hatshepsut), p. 151.
12 Cavities for the 23 sitting statues are well preserved in the
Valley Temple of Khafre at Giza, cf. M. SEIDEL, Die
koniglichen Statuengruppen. I. Die Denkmdler vom Alten
reich bis zum Ende der 18. Dynastie, HAB 42, Hildesheim
1996, p. 21, pi. 4a. Another well known parallel is provided
by the statuary group of Horemheb kneeling before Atum
ing on the east-west axis (fig. 2b). The lily in the
front means, by contrast, that the sculpture faced
southwards (fig. 2a). Meanwhile, the second crite-
rion, accounting for the dimensions of a given object,
will enable us to fit a given sculpture into the corre-
sponding architectural context.
The starting point of our analysis is furnished by the
representation of Hatshepsut, found in the Deir
el-Bahari14 (fig. 3). The decoration on a surviving frag-
ment of a block was made in high relief, but the paint-
ings beneath are unfortunately missing. The Queen is
depicted in a female form, sitting on a block-throne,
face to the right. The position of her arms is typical of
the niche-representations, the right one lying flat on
the thigh, while the left, bent at the elbow, is raised to
the chest as the Queen holds a piece of cloth in this
hand. The figure is clothed in the fashion befitting the
Great Royal Wife: a long, closely fitting dress supported
by two straps, and a vulture-hat over a tripartite wig.
Additionally, an outline of a necklace is still visible on
her chest. Erasures are limited to some parts of the
figure: the head together with its cover, arms to the
elbows, right palm together with the knee and partly
the thigh.15 Additionally the .fn-ring and the stem of the
sign swt have been erased from the fans in the back of
the throne. All of these attest to the purposeful nature
of the erasures.
Carving of the four signs si, dd, rnh and wls was
completed, while the ,v and the feminine form of the
pronomen s are left unfinished. The so-called chequer-
frieze that closes the whole composition disappears
at the height of the last sign. Yet, the erasures and the
attributes of the royal power that are located at the
back of the throne (the fans, destined respectively
from Luxor-cachette, M. el-S AGHIR, Das Statuenversteck
im Luxortempel, Mainz am Rhein 1992, pp. 35-40, figs. 82-
84. Scratches on the pavement are preserved together with
sitting statues of Tuthmosis I dedicated by his daughter
Hatshepsut in the newly discovered niches inside the 4th
pylon in Kamak, cf. F. LARCHE, New Statues at Kamak,
Egyptian Archaeology 16 (2000), p. 31.
13 LABOURY, Statuaire de Thoutmosis 111, p. 82.
14 Fragment of block 48 cm high and 66.5 cm wide. The
relief has been known of for a very long time, probably
discovered during the excavations of E. NAVILLE. Inter-
estingly enough the block was prepared to be robbed
from the place, as its heavy backside was carefully cut off
by a saw.
15 This unique example proofs that the erasures were made
according to certain rules. The body of the Queen has been cut
18