OLD KINGDOM, DYNASTY VI, 2323-2150 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN WOOD FIGURE OF A MAN
OLD KINGDOM, DYNASTY VI, 2323-2150 B.C.
Standing with the left leg advanced in stride, his right arm held to his side, the hand fisted around a cylindrical object, the left arm bent acutely at the elbow, likely originally holding a staff, depicted with square shoulders, the elongated torso with slender musculature, the clavicles sharply delineated, the naturalistic vertical cavity between the ribs softly flowing into the oval navel, wearing a short kilt, the waistband falling below the narrow waist, the curve of the fold descending along the right side, the long thin legs with prominent knee caps and pronounced shins, the short wig concealing the ears, the face with convex eyes below bulging brows, a triangular nose and thin, straight lips, the arms and base separately made, preserving extensive pigment over gesso throughout, including white with red stripes for the kilt and black for the wig, the preserved undercoat appearing red, set into a rectangular base
31¾ in. (80.6 cm.) high

Provenance

Kofler Collection, Lucerne.
with L'Ibis Gallery, New York, 1970s.

Lot Essay

For related examples see nos. 188-191 in Arnold, et al., Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. Very close to the present example is one in the Louvre, no. 51, p. 183 in Ziegler, Les statues égyptiennes de l'ancien empire. They commonly display similar taste in bodily proportions, with attention to the softly-toned musculature, and lengthened torso and legs, a canon "adopted in the Sixth Dynasty to depict the ideal of male beauty" (Ziegler, p. 461, Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids). The piece in Paris, although slightly smaller in scale, portrays a male figure almost identically, with short kilt, the right arm at his side, the left arm raised once holding a staff, and a short wig.

The quite dense, hard wood employed for this figure, perhaps ebony or yew, was an expensive and highly desired material reserved most often for royal workshops. The scale and quality of the carving also indicate a royal association.

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