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A Fragmentary Black Basalt Block Statue of a Priest, 26th Dynasty, Period of Psamtik I, 664-610 B.C.
Description
- A Fragmentary Black Basalt Block Statue of a Priest
- Height 11 1/2 in. 29.2 cm.
Provenance
Kofler-Truniger Collection, Luzern, prior to 1975
Sotheby’s, New York, December 7th, 2001, no. 33, illus.
Literature
Photographs of Egyptian Art and of Egypt: The Hans Wolfgang Müller Archive, 1931-1975, Heidelberg University Library, microfiche, 73 [145/12-20, 28, 34-5]
Olivier Perdu, “Florilège d’incitations à agir,” Revue d’égyptologie, vol. 51, 2000, p. 188, and n. 53
Jaromir Malek, Diana Magee, and Elizabeth Miles, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings VIII. Objects of Provenance not Known, Oxford, online supplement, no. 801-755-585
Olivier Perdu, forthcoming publication of the statue in Revue d’égyptologie
Catalogue Note
In a letter dated March 18th, 2007, Olivier Perdu notes that "the top of the statue is inscribed with the name and titles of the owner, while the front, back-pillar, and both halves of the base are engraved with four offering formulas. Accompanying the first formula is a request asking passers-by to provide the statue with sustenance. The second formula contains a detailed presentation of the owner emphasizing his social qualities as 'he who gives bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and clothing to the naked, he who protects the fearful whenever the opportunity presents itself.' The top and sides of the back pillar are inscribed with a long genealogy listing at least twelve generations of Djedkhy's ancestors. Worth noting in this list is the mention of a vizier, also named Djedkhy, whose wife, the lady Karoam, bears a name of Libyan origin."
The present statue must have stood in the main temple at Sema-Behedet (modern Tell el-Balamun, in the northernmost part of the Nile delta), where Djedkhy fulfilled four priestly functions, each associated with a different god.