An Egyptian Greywacke Naophorous Bust of an Official, 2nd half of the 26th Dynasty, circa 600-525 B.C.

administrator of the Royal Palace at Hermopolis Magna, wearing a pleated kilt, broad rounded wig, and a naos-shaped pectoral decorated in raised relief with a seated figure of Neith holding the was-scepter, his youthful idealizing face with outlined lips indented at the corners, and finely contoured eyes, a single column of inscription in sunk relief on the rectangular back pillar translating, "Guest of the gods who are in Khemenu (Hermopolis Magna), Sole friend, Administrator of the Palace, Administrator..."

Mathias Komor, New York
Missouri Public Service Co., Raytown, Missouri, acquired from the above in 1959
acquired from the above by the present owner in the mid 1980s

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, September 28th-November 15th, 1987

Very good condition and as shown in the photos; note small chip on nose and chin, and damage to proper right eye and right arm. The edges of the back pillar are chipped and the inscription is somewhat worn.
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For related sculptures of the late 26th-early 27th Dynasty, cf. B. v. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 700 B.C.-A.D. 100, Brooklyn, 1960, plates 54-58.