LATE PERIOD, EARLY 26TH DYNASTY, 664-610 B.C.

This exquisitely-modeled limestone relief is said to be from the tomb of the high dignitary Pediamenopet at El-Assasif in Thebes (TT 33), the largest surviving private tomb from the Late Period. He is known from at least three statues, including one of yellow quartzite in Cairo where he is depicted seated as a scribe with his legs folded, a scroll in his lap; one of alabaster, also in Cairo, seated on a backless chair; and one of granite in Berlin in a squatting pose (For the statues in Cairo see pp. 31-35 and 44-48 in J. A. Josephson and M.M. Eldamaty, Statues of the XXVth and XXVIth Dynasties; for the statue in Berlin see W. Kaiser, Ägyptisches Museum Berlin, p. 94, no. 942).

Pediamenopet was a Chief Lector Priest and a scribe and was apparently influential during the late 25th Dynasty and especially in the early 26th. Another relief of him from the tomb, now in Brussels, is nearly identical in every detail, except he is shown facing left and preserves more of his torso. The style is typical of the transitional period between the 25th and 26th dynasties, as seen by the large eyes with pronounced eyebrow and by the thick-lipped mouth. In both reliefs he wears a close-fitting cap, a multi-strand broad collar and a pendant necklace, only the cord of which is preserved (see M. Werbrouck, Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles, Département égyptien, 1934, pl. 40).