This image of an ancient Egypt pharaoh
depicts him in a kneeling pose, which is
the most common attitude adopted by the
ancient Egyptian metal smiths for royal
representations of their rulers in
bronze. Our king wears a striated kilt
which is secured at the waist by a
braided belt together with a striated
nemes-headdress fronted by a uraeus. The
stripes of the lappets falling on to his
shoulders are narrower and more closely
spaced than those on the part that
covers the head proper. His arms are
bent at the waist and rest on the top of
his tights with the palms open and
vertical in order to accommodate a now-
missing element, most probably a shrine
in which appeared an image of a deity.
Our statuette is provided with two tangs
for insertion into a now missing base.
Although not inscribed, our anonymous
portrait can be assigned to the Late
Period on the basis of its style. The
careful modeling of the torso places
attention on its tri-partition while
emphasizing a pinched, somewhat high
waist and corpulent lower abdominal
region. The canon of proportions
conforms to that introduced during
Dynasty XXVI so that ration of the
height of the head to that of the height
of the body produces a slightly more
attenuated figure in which the head
appears to be relatively smaller in
proportion to the body; this
proportional distinction is thereafter
repeated in later dynasties. In keeping
with this proportional diminution, the
shape of the head is wider than it is
tall, and characterized by idealizing
features. These include horizontally
arranged almond-shaped eyes, a nose with
broad wings, and a small mouth, likewise
horizontally aligned, with thin lips.
One can, therefore, assigned our bronze
portrait of an anonymous pharaoh to the
period between 664 and 30 B.C. Its
preserved gilding sets it apart from
many other examples of this well-known
type.
References:
Marshal Hill, Royal Bronze Statuary from
Ancient Egypt with Special Attention to
the Kneeling Pose (Leiden 2004), pages
75-117.
Description and interpretation kindly
provided by Prof. Robert S. Bianchi.
