OLD KINGDOM, 6TH DYNASTY, 2360-2195 B.C.

This large-scale panel likely comes from the right side of a false door from a mastaba tomb at Saqqara. Sculpted in sunk relief, the panel preserves the upper portion of a man in profile to the left. He wears a simple kilt with a triangular apron, the belt knotted at his waist. Diagonally over his shoulders is a distinctive sash, which identifies him as a lector priest. Over the sash is a smooth broad collar that would have been embellished in paint, now lost. The shoulder-length wig of echeloned curls exposes his well-detailed ear. His large outlined eye is framed by a thick eyebrow gently curving above; his full lips are delineated by a thin vermillion line; the philtrum is indicated.

Even in the absence of identifying inscriptions, the large scale and the quality of the carving indicate that the owner was a high-status individual. For a related 6th Dynasty relief compare the figure of Ipi, fig. 69 in D. Arnold, et al., Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. See also the head of Ra-wer from his alabaster stela, somewhat earlier in date, no. 144 in Arnold, op. cit.