AN EGYPTIAN DIORITE HEAD OF AN OFFICIAL

LATE PERIOD, DYNASTY XXX, 380-343 B.C.

细节

AN EGYPTIAN DIORITE HEAD OF AN OFFICIAL
LATE PERIOD, DYNASTY XXX, 380-343 B.C.
Finely sculpted in idealizing style, with a high domed forehead and shaven, egg-shaped skull, his face with narrow almond-shaped eyes, the upper lids rimmed, extending beyond the outer corners, the lower lids cut in, the inner canthi pointed and angled downward, the modelled brows gently arching above, dipping slightly above the bridge of the nose, tapering at their outer ends, and offset by a shallow incision above, with prominent cheek bones and slightly compressed temples, his small nose rounded with slightly flared nostrils, the thick lips pursed into a slight smile, the philtrum indicated, the corners of the mouth indented, the prominent ears well-detailed, the remains of a back pillar along the neck, the surface finely polished
8½ in. (21.5 cm.) high

来源

The Collection of a French Ambassador to Egypt, early 20th century.
Anonymous sale; Delorme et Fraysse, Drouot Richelieu, 5 June 1996, lot 4.

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拍品专文

A number of skillfully sculpted and superbly polished idealizing heads from Dynasty XXX share similar characteristics with the present head in that they present the individual with eternal youth and vigor. They are not true portraits in the sense of representing unique physiognomic traits, although all of them are slightly different from each other. The important official represented would only be identifiable by the accompanying inscription, here lost. For related heads see the example in red granite, formerly in Buffalo, no. 85 in Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 700 B.C. to A.D. 100; two heads in Virginia, one of black granite with a red vein, and one of red granite, nos. 60 and 64 in Brown, et al., Ancient Art in the Virginia Museum; a black granite head in Baltimore, no. 201 in Steindorff, Catalogue of the Egyptian Sculpture in the Walters Art Gallery; and a green basalt head in Brooklyn, no. 81 in Fazzini, et al., Ancient Egyptian Art in the Brooklyn Museum. These heads also share stylistic affinities in terms of the treatment of the face with several royal heads of Nectanebo II, including a granite head, possibly from Mendes, now in Cairo, and another granite head now in Boston, pl. 7b and 10c in Josephson, Egyptian Royal Sculpture of the Late Period, 400-246 B.C..