Category:
Sculpture in the round, statues, human / gods and goddesses statues, block (cube) statues
Date:
Ancient Egyptian period, Late Period (664-332 BCE)
Provenance:
Upper Egypt, Luxor (Thebes), East Bank, Karnak temple
Material(s):
Rock, granite, black granite
Height:
46 cm;
Width:
20.5 cm;
Depth:
29.5 cm
Hall:
Ancient Egyptian Antiquities
Description
A block statue of a priest serving the god Monthu, Lord of Thebes, by the name of Nes-Amun, son of Ankh.ef (n) Khonsu. The priest is represented in a squatting position and a relief sculpture of the god of the dead, Osiris in a mummified form and wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, occupies the center of the statue. The god Osiris holds the crook and flail, emblems of power and government, and he is flanked on both sides by an offering formula addressed to Osiris and Seker. On the back, prayers are addressed for the sake of “the god of the city” (neter-niwty) Monthu Lord of Thebes.
Karnak Cache
This statue, like many others, was recovered from the “Karnak Cache”, in Luxor. The cache was discovered in 1903 by Georges Legrain beneath the courtyard of the Seventh Pylon in the Great Temple of Karnak. Working under extremely difficult conditions, the workers of Legrain painstakingly recovered over seven hundred statues, sixteen thousand bronzes, and numerous other objects by the time the excavation was suspended. Legrain was forced to interrupt his work in July 1905 due to water seepage that threatened the life of his workers. He was, though, certainly aware that the cache had not yet surrendered all its secrets.
The information given here is subject to modification/update as a result of ongoing research.
References
- Jean-Pierre Corteggiani, L'Egypte des Pharaons au Musée du Caire, illustrated by Jean-François Gout (Paris: Hachette, 1986).
- Zahi Hawass, ed., Bibliotheca Alexandrina: The Archaeology Museum (Cairo: The Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2002): 24, 27.
- Georges Posener, Serge Sauneron and Jean Yoyotte, “Block Statue”, in Dictionary of Egyptian Civilization, translated by Alix Macfarlane (London: Methuen, 1962).
- Mona Serry, ed., Bibliotheca Alexandrina: Antiquities Museum, introduction by Ismail Serageldin (Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Antiquities Museum, 2015): 32-33, 313, 356.
- Karl Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit aus dem Ägyptischen Museum Kairo, Ägypten und Altes Testament 45 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001).
- Karl Jansen-Winkeln, Inschriften der Spätzeit, vol. 3, Die 25. Dynastie (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2009): 425.