Details
AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE RELIEF FOR IPI
OLD KINGDOM, DYNASTY V, 2465-2323 B.C.
From Saqqara, from the right door jamb of Mastaba B4, with the tomb owner Ipi sculpted in bold raised relief within a recessed rectangular panel, depicted in large scale moving to the left with his right leg advanced, a folded cloth under his right arm, carrying a sekhem scepter horizontally in his lowered right hand, its shaft shown passing behind him, a staff in his left hand, wearing a short curly wig that conceals his ear, a plain broad collar, a bracelet on his left wrist, and a short kilt with a fan-pleated flap and a lip of cloth pulled up from behind the belt, with two tabs projecting below the hem, a hieroglyphic inscription above in sunk relief reading, "Prophet of Horus-imy-snwt, Administrator of the Great House, ...Companion, Prophet of the Red House, ...the King's House, beloved of his lord, Ipi"
48¾ in. (124 cm.) high
Provenance
Dr. E. Ungar, Mexico City, acquired prior to 1970.
The Property of a Lady (stepdaughter of Dr. Ungar); Sotheby's, London, 10 July 1992, lot 390.
Literature
A. Mariette, Les Mastabas de L'Ancient Empire, Paris, 1889, pp. 95-96.
W.S. Smith in G.A. Reisner, Development of the Egyptian Tomb, Cambridge, MA, 1936, p. 398 (for the location of the tomb).
H.G. Fischer, "An Elusive Shape within the Fisted Hands of Egyptian Statues" in Ancient Egypt in the Metropolitan Museum Journal, vols.1-11, 1968-1976, New York, 1977, pp. 150-152, fig. 12.
H. Schlögl, Geschenk des Nils, Aegyptische Kunstwerke aus Schweizer Besitz, Basel, 1978, p. 35, no. 117.
Exhibited
Rietberg Museum, Zurich, 1970-1992.
Archäologische Sammlung der Universität Zürich and elsewhere, Geshenk des Nils, Aegyptische Kunstwerke aus Schweizer Besitz, 1978.
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