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STAGES OF HISTORY: AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE FIGURE OF A MAN

CIRCA 4500 YEARS AGO

CONSTRUCTION OF THE GREAT WESTERN CEMETERY COMPLEX AT GIZA, INCLUDING THE SERDAB OF WERI AND METI (G2415)

About a 100 years after the Great Pyramid complex was built, a necropolis now known as the Great Western Cemetery was constructed besides the Pyramid of Khufu in the Giza complex. This included a tomb belonging to a man named Weri and his wife Meti dating to the Fifth Dynasty, probably during the reign of Niuserra ca. 2450–2323 B.C., where the current statue was later excavated.

_{Left: Archival photo of the Western Cemetery: Site Giza; View: G 2420, G 2415, G 2416, G 2421. Photograph taken by Mohammedani Ibrahim, expedition photographer. Image courtesy of Digital Giza, The Giza Project at Harvard University}

AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGIST GEORGE ANDREW REISNER EXCAVATES THE SERDAB OF WERI AND METI

Beginning in 1902 a team led by George A. Reisner on behalf of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston excavated the Great Western Necropolis at Giza. In 1913, he uncovered the serdab of Weri and Meti and discovered the present statue.

_{Left: Archival photo of G 2415 with the present statue taken in the summer of 1920 by Mohammedani Ibrahim. Image courtesy of Digital Giza, The Giza Project at Harvard University.}
_{Archival photo of the figure. Image courtesy of Digital Giza, The Giza Project at Harvard University}

THE EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE FIGURE OF A MAN ENTERS THE COLLECTION OF THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON

In 1921, the Egyptian limestone figure of a man was awarded to the Museum of Fine Arts by the Egyptian Government Antiquities Service via division of finds, which allowed foreign expeditions to retain and export some of the material they discovered during the course of their work.

_{Left: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons}

THE EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE FIGURE OF A MAN SETS A WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR ANY ANTIQUITY AT AUCTION AT SOTHEBY PARKE BERNET

The figure sells at auction for $280,000 USD, then the highest price ever achieved at auction for an ancient sculpture.

_{Left: The Parke Bernet Galleries at Madison Avenue, mid 20th century.}

THE EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE FIGURE OF A MAN GOES ON LOAN TO THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

From 1996-2021, the current owner places the work on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of New York where it was exhibited in the Old Kingdom gallery until 2021.

_{Left: The Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY}

Egypt’s Old Kingdom (2663-2195 B.C.) is considered its Classical Age and nothing later ever quite equaled it. Renowned for its spare purity of form, the sculpture of this era, the Age of the Pyramids, has a timeless beauty and serenity unmatched by other periods. This commanding statue of a man is an outstanding example of the art of this incomparable era.

The figure was excavated by the great American archeologist, George Andrew Reisner working for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston at Giza in the shadow of the Great Pyramid in 1913 and was awarded to the Museum by the Egyptian Government Antiquities Service through partage or a division of finds, which allowed foreign expeditions to retain and export some of the material they discovered in the course of their work.

The statue came from a tomb (G 2415) located in the Great Western Cemetery beside the Pyramid of Khufu belonging to a man named Weri and his wife Meti dating to the Fifth Dynasty, probably during the reign of Niuserra circa 2432-2421 B.C. It originally stood in the serdab or statue chamber, a feature of these mastaba tombs which contained sculptures of the tomb owner and his family. The statues served a purpose as a home for the spirit in case anything might happen to the mummy. For this reason an individual might have multiple images of him or herself, and usually depicted as young and vigorous. This statue is one of seven limestone figures that were found in the serdab, including ones of Weri and a pair statue of a man named Ikhui and his wife Bebi, who may have been relatives of Weri.

The statue is uninscribed, but most probably represents Weri, and depicts him striding forward with his left leg advanced in a pose typical of the period. He wears a wig composed or rows of curls and a knee-length kilt tied at the waist with a belt knotted in the front and the tab end sticking up beside his navel. His muscular arms grasp two round bosses, a stylistic feature often found in Egyptian sculpture. The cubic form of the image along with the back pillar were intended to make sure that the sculpture would survive intact as an eternal home for the soul. Such large statues are rare, as is the preservation of much of the pigment on the surface. William Stevenson Smith, art historian of the Old Kingdom, noted that the Weri group of sculptures, “…characterizes the best of the small private statues of Late Dynasty V.”

_{Links to the archival images of cited in the timeline from Reisner’s excavation of G 2415 and the present figure can be found here courtesy of The Giza Project at Harvard University.}
_{http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/photos/9715/full}
_{http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/photos/25858/full/}
_{http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/objects/26756/full/}

A Commanding Egyptian Figure Standing Tall and Striding Forward