Lot 13
  • 13

A Fragmentary Black Basalt Block Statue of a Priest, 26th Dynasty, Period of Psamtik I, 664-610 B.C.

Estimate
35,000 - 45,000 USD
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Description

  • A Fragmentary Black Basalt Block Statue of a Priest
  • Height 11 1/2 in. 29.2 cm.
inscribed for Djedkhy, Prophet of Amun-Ra-king-of-the-gods who dwells at Sema-Behedet, Prophet of the first team of Amun, Prophet of Thoth at half his disk, Prophet of Khonsu lord of Sema-Behedet, Djedkhy seated with arms crossed over his knees, his hands emerging from his belted cloak, a figure of Osiris wearing the atef-crown and holding the crook and flail in sunk relief on each shoulder, the base, back-pillar, front of the cloak, and area between the hands and the fragmentary beard finely carved with inscriptions.

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.