AN EGYPTIAN TRAVERTINE MALE HEAD

OLD KINGDOM, 4TH DYNASTY, 2637-2613 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN TRAVERTINE MALE HEAD
OLD KINGDOM, 4TH DYNASTY, 2637-2613 B.C.
The round face well modeled, with almond-shaped lidded eyes, the extended cosmetic lines and conforming brows in relief, a prominent nose and full lips pursed into a slight smile, wearing a short echeloned wig enveloping his ears
1 ½ in. (3.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Professor Richard Täckholm (1865-1937) and Vivi Laurent Täckholm (1898-1978), Sweden.
Antiquities, Bonhams, London, 13 October 2006, lot 104.

Exhibited

Atlanta, The Carlos Museum of Art, Emory University, 2007-April 2015.

Lot Essay

Of the few statues known from the 4th Dynasty, several are in travertine, also known as Egyptian alabaster. These include two fragmentary portraits of the Pharaoh Khafre (r. 2558-2532 B.C.) one of which is at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, the other at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a standing woman, now in the British Museum (see nos. 26, 59, and 60 in J.P. O'Neill, ed., Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids). The cosmetic lines, eyebrows and mouth of the present example are similar to these royal portraits and help in confirming its dating to the 4th Dynasty; the wig shape however, indicates that the man is a private individual as opposed to a ruler.

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