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Lot Essay
This striding queen in its present form dates to the 1st century B.C. Originally carved for an earlier queen, likely Karomama, the wife of the Dynasty XXII Pharaoh Osorkon II (924-909 B.C.), the statue was recarved in the Ptolemaic Period with the visage of a different queen, the most likely being Cleopatra VII.
The appearance of this queen reveals a combination of Ptolemaic and Dynasty XXII features. The uniform, matte finish is typical of Ptolemaic sculpture, as is the physiognomy of the queen's body from the frontal view; in particular the rendering of high ample breasts, short waist, and long, slim abdominal area with a slight donut shape around the navel, which all conform to the stylistic trends of this period. See, for example, a limestone relief of Arsinoe II (no. 130) and a temple relief of Cleopatra VII (fig. 8) in Ziegler, Reines d'Egypte, D'Hétephérès Á Cléopâtra.
However, the queen's profile reveals that this sculpture was cut down and only remodelled on the front. The thick thighs and buttocks are disproportionate to the slim front, and the back pillar is too close to the body; originally there would have been a thicker pillar, on which its original owner's name was inscribed. As well, the hands are far too small for the figure, suggesting previous hands were damaged and their remains reformed. The recarving of earlier sculptures during the Ptolemaic period is frequent and noticed more often in current scholarship.
The identification of Karomama as the original queen portrayed is due to her physiognomy and proportions, which are best observed on a relief from Bubastis in the British Museum (Ziegler, op. cit., no. 160, pp., 119, 329.). Pharaoh Osokon II's queen was shown with long smooth tresses, as she is here, and with a plumed, platform crown of fairly narrow diameter, which would easily have broken off the original statue. The projection remaining on top of this statue's head approximately the diameter of such a crown, is still rough as if not entirely smoothed down after the crown broke away. For the plumed headdress atop a thin support see the colossal statue of a Ptolemaic queen, p. 107 in Hawass and Goddio, Cleopatra: the Search for the Last Queen of Egypt. For a similar projecting knob (having lost its headdress) see the statue of Arsinoe II in the Vatican, fig. 5.3, p. 150 in Walker and Higgs, Cleopatra of Egypt.
Karomama's portraits show her with a somewhat pinched face, small eyes and narrow lips, generally resembling Cleopatra VII's features. But the evidence of recarving on our queen's face further supports the transformation of one queen to the other.
The appearance of this queen reveals a combination of Ptolemaic and Dynasty XXII features. The uniform, matte finish is typical of Ptolemaic sculpture, as is the physiognomy of the queen's body from the frontal view; in particular the rendering of high ample breasts, short waist, and long, slim abdominal area with a slight donut shape around the navel, which all conform to the stylistic trends of this period. See, for example, a limestone relief of Arsinoe II (no. 130) and a temple relief of Cleopatra VII (fig. 8) in Ziegler, Reines d'Egypte, D'Hétephérès Á Cléopâtra.
However, the queen's profile reveals that this sculpture was cut down and only remodelled on the front. The thick thighs and buttocks are disproportionate to the slim front, and the back pillar is too close to the body; originally there would have been a thicker pillar, on which its original owner's name was inscribed. As well, the hands are far too small for the figure, suggesting previous hands were damaged and their remains reformed. The recarving of earlier sculptures during the Ptolemaic period is frequent and noticed more often in current scholarship.
The identification of Karomama as the original queen portrayed is due to her physiognomy and proportions, which are best observed on a relief from Bubastis in the British Museum (Ziegler, op. cit., no. 160, pp., 119, 329.). Pharaoh Osokon II's queen was shown with long smooth tresses, as she is here, and with a plumed, platform crown of fairly narrow diameter, which would easily have broken off the original statue. The projection remaining on top of this statue's head approximately the diameter of such a crown, is still rough as if not entirely smoothed down after the crown broke away. For the plumed headdress atop a thin support see the colossal statue of a Ptolemaic queen, p. 107 in Hawass and Goddio, Cleopatra: the Search for the Last Queen of Egypt. For a similar projecting knob (having lost its headdress) see the statue of Arsinoe II in the Vatican, fig. 5.3, p. 150 in Walker and Higgs, Cleopatra of Egypt.
Karomama's portraits show her with a somewhat pinched face, small eyes and narrow lips, generally resembling Cleopatra VII's features. But the evidence of recarving on our queen's face further supports the transformation of one queen to the other.