Torso of a High General

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This statue’s short kilt and striding pose are favored for the statues of high officials during the fourth century, and were certainly chosen for their evocation of the great tradition stretching back to the Old Kingdom. Although the owner’s name is broken away, the long inscription indicates the individual had a high general’s title, held offices at Busiris and performed restorations there and in Abydos for damages that resulted from “the foreigners,” a description that must refer to the Persian occupation. Indeed, works at Abydos during dynasty 30 are documented by archaeological and inscriptional evidence. Moreover, the strongly modeled chest musculature and details of the style seem to fit well in Dynasty 30, perhaps even the reign of Nectanebo I (380–343 b.c.), suggesting that the statue's inscription may indeed be a contemporary account by a high military official.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art