COLLECTION of EGYPTIAN ART

Éva Liptay: Ancient Egyptian Wooden Figures

Title/Description

Male figure from a model group: Overseer of work

Material

wood, ground layer, paint; worn; hole in the right hand (to fit the missing sceptre)

Dimensions

H: 26.8 cm W: 5.7 cm (at the shoulders) D: 3.2 cm (at the hip)

Iconography

Posture: standing man; right arm lifted and extended forward; a writing board under his left arm; a kherep-baton missing from the right hand
Body: painted brick red
Wig/Hair: short, black wig
Face: unshaven, prominent eyes set straight
Dress: knee-length white apron

Function

Funerary furniture/Part of the private burial equipment (Figure from a model granary or brewery)

Date

Middle Kingdom

Origin

Unknown

Provenance

Unknown (Purchased from a private collector in 1953)

Bibliography

Kákosy 1956, 7 Kákosy, L., Les nouvelles statuettes de serviteures égyptiennes du Musée des Beaux-Arts / A Szépművészeti Múzeum új egyiptomi szolgaszobrai, Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 8 (1956), 3–11/86–90.

Varga – Wessetzky 1964, 14 Varga, E. – Wessetzky, V., Egyiptomi kiállítás, Budapest 1964.

I. Nagy 1999, 23 and fig. 9 Nagy, I., Vezető az Egyiptomi Kiállításhoz (A Szépművészeti Múzeum Gyűjteményei 2), Budapest 1999 (= Guide to the Egyptian Collection (Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, 2), Budapest 1999).

Z. Horváth in Kóthay – Liptay 2012, cat. 6c Kóthay, K. A. – Liptay, É. (szerk.), A Szépművészeti Múzeum Egyiptomi Gyűjteménye, Budapest 2012.

Z. Horváth in Kóthay – Liptay 2013, cat. 7c. Kóthay, K. A. – Liptay, É. (eds.), Egyptian Artefacts of the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest, Budapest 2013.

Parallels

Philadelphia, University Museum, E 14259 (Sedment; Dynasty 11 - early Dynasty 12) (J. H. Breasted Jr., Egyptian Servant Statues (Bollingen Series 13), New York 1948., Pl. 11a; A. M. J. Tooley, Middle Kingdom Burial Customs. A study of wooden models and related material, PhD Diss. Univ. Liverpool 1989, 49, 108)
Cairo, Egyptian Museum, JE 32831 (Deir el-Bersha; Dynasty 12) (A. M. J. Tooley, Middle Kingdom Burial Customs. A study of wooden models and related material, PhD Diss. Univ. Liverpool 1989, 114; Tooley 1995, 41, fig. 39)
Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, E416
Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1914.808 (L. M. Berman, Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art 1999, cat. 148)
San José, Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, RC 483 (Middle Kingdom)
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 21.11769 (S. D’Auria et al., Mummies and Magic: The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts 1992., fig. 72)

Inventory Number

53.320