AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE FACE OF A PHARAOH

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE FACE OF A PHARAOH
Perhaps Amenhotep I
New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII, 1550-1307 B.C.

With full cheeks, prominent nose, and arching brow above the recessed, convex and slightly slanted eye with a cosmetic line extending from the raised upper lid, with a slightly smiling, small mouth, the filtrum indicated, with incised false beard straps on the left side of the face and right lower chin, and traces of the uraeus over the frontlet of the headdress, 7 3/8in. (18.7cm.) high

Lot Essay

The physiognomic features of this piece are characteristic of the images of pharaohs of early Dynasty XVIII, particularly those of Amenhotep I. Comparison with a painted sandstone head in the Bastis Collection, which is likewise uninscribed, supports this attribution. See fig. 3 in Bothmer, Antiquities from the Collection of Christos G. Bastis.