Head from a Large Statue of a Priest or Dignitary

Head from a Large Statue of a Priest or Dignitary

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This head was at some point in the past considered to be of Late Period (Dynasty 25) date but subsequent reevaluation of the art of the late Middle Kingdom has enabled scholars to understand it as a primary work of Dynasty 13. The partial baldness of the official is an indication of maturity. He still retains tufts of hair, once probably emphasized by paint, above the ears. The hooded eyes and the furrow between the brows are reminiscent of royal images of Dynasty 12. Maturity and features characteristic of a wise ruler identify the man as an experienced and caring holder of high office, while the elegant bone structure of the head and the sensitive pursed lips express a noble and refined mind. The head once belonged to a statue that was larger than life size and showed the official either standing or seated. It was excavated in the temple of Osiris at Abydos which makes it an example of the new type of statuary introduced during the Middle Kingdom: a temple statue. Through this placement of his statue, the official hoped to participate eternally in the rituals performed for the god.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Head from a Large Statue of a Priest or DignitaryHead from a Large Statue of a Priest or DignitaryHead from a Large Statue of a Priest or DignitaryHead from a Large Statue of a Priest or DignitaryHead from a Large Statue of a Priest or Dignitary

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.