Details
AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE RELIEF FOR IPI
OLD KINGDOM, DYNASTY V, 2465-2323 B.C.
From Saqqara, from the left 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 right with his left leg advanced, carrying a sekhem scepter horizontally in his lowered right hand, and a staff in his left, wearing a long striated wig that conceals his ear, a ridged broad collar, a bracelet on his right wrist, a kilt and a priestly feline pelt fastened to his left shoulder with a large knot and belted across the waist, 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"
49 5/8 in. (126.1 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 389.
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. 116.
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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