This statuette depicts a striding man with his arms by his sides. He has no wig and wears a pleated kilt lowered on his belly. The body and face have been treated in an exceptionally soft manner and the surface is splendidly polished. The features of the young-looking face with large almond-shaped eyes are highly typical of the last years of Amenhotep III’s reign – youth was particularly emphasized in his monuments produced in connection with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of that pharaoh’s succession. One example is provided by the faces of Saint Petersburg sphinxes. In New Kingdom sculpture of private persons, reproduction of the features of the ruling pharaoh took precedence over conveying any individual likeness, providing us with a dependable dating criterion. Sadly, the base on which the name and titles of a sculpture’s owner were usually recorded has been lost here, so we cannot say who was the owner this remarkable work of art. We can, however, to some extent determine its context. The statuette belongs to a group of similar pieces, marked by their high quality, the majority of which depict their owners without wigs, with a shaven head as befitted those in priestly service. We are therefore dealing here with articles relating to the priestly elite, perhaps even royal gifts. Incidentally such a lofty status could only be attained at a mature age, so the youthful face on the Hermitage statuette is no more than a fiction with its origins in the late iconography of Amenhotep III. Andrey Bolshakov
Title:
Statuette of a Priest
Place:
Date:
Material:
Dimensions:
height: 34,5 cm
Archaeological site:
unknown origin
Acquisition date:
Entered the Hermitage in 1862; previously in the collection of Castiglione
Inventory Number:
ДВ-737
Comment:
Selected literature: Golénischeff, W. Ermitage Impérial. Inventaire de la collection égyptienne. [St. Petersburg], 1891. p. 86; Flittner., N. “An Unpublished Wooden Statuette”. Ancient Egypt. London, 1925. pp. 71–73; Mat’e, M.Ė. [Матье, М.Э.]. Искусство Древнего Египта. Новое царство. [Iskusstvo Drevnego Egipta. Novoe carstvo. / The Art of Ancient Egypt. The New Kingdom]. Leningrad, 1947. Frontispiece; Mat’e, M.Ė. [Матье, М.Э.]. Искусство Древнего Египта [Iskusstvo Drevnego Egipta / The Art of Ancient Egypt]. Moscow, 1958. Figs. 60, 61; Mat’e, M.Ė., Pavlov, V.V. [Матье, М.Э., Павлов, В.В.] Памятники искусства Древнего Египта в музеях Советского Союза [Pamjatniki iskusstva Drevnego Egipta v muzejax Sovetskogo Sojuza / Ancient Egyptian Artworks in the Museums of the Soviet Union]. Moscow, 1958. [Figs] 34, 35; Mat’e, M.Ė. [Матье, М.Э.]. Искусство Древнего Египта [Iskusstvo Drevnego Egipta / The Art of Ancient Egypt]. Moscow–Leningrad, 1961. pp. 270f, Fig. 131; Lapis, I.A., Mat’e, M.Ė. [Лапис, И.А., Матье, М.Э.]. Древнеегипетская скульптура в собрании Государственного Эрмитажа [Drevneegipetskaja skul’ptura v sobranii Gosudarstvennogo Ėrmitaža / Ancient Egyptian Sculpture in the State Hermitage Collection]. Moscow, 1969. p. 76, Ct. No 72; Landa, N.B., Lapis, I.A. [Ланда, Н.Б., Лапис, И.А.]. Памятники искусства Древнего Египта в Эрмитаже [Pamjatniki iskusstva Drevnego Egipta v Ėrmitaže / Ancient Egyptian Artworks in the Hermitage]. Leningrad, 1974. [Figs] 38, 39.
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