Head of a King

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodMIddle Kingdom, late 11th - early 12th Dynasty

Dateca. 1958-1878 BCE

MediumGranite (weathered)

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions2 5/8 x 2 3/16 x 1 13/16 in., 190 g (6.6 x 5.5 x 4.6 cm, 6 11/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.805

Label TextDynasty 12 royal statuary continues Upper Egyptian stylistic traditions established during the reign of Mentuhotep II, who reunified Egypt in the latter half of Dynasty 11. The shape of the eyes, eyebrows, lips, and cheeks remain consistent in statuary until the reign of the second king of Dynasty 12, Senusret I. This stylistic conformity between dynasties probably signifies the continuity of the king as the repository of divine kingship. Senusret I established a new naturalistic royal portrait that presents the sovereign as his own man.

This small head belongs to a late Dynasty 11 king, either Mentuhotep II or III, or an early Dynasty 12 king. The ruler wears a broad striped nemes headdress with a uraeus on his brow. The king’s face is broad and oval. His straight brows are carved in high relief and curve downward at the outer ends. The eyes are wide and slightly slanted with pronounced inner canthi. The eyes are outlined with relief bands that end in “fishtail” cosmetic lines. The nose is damaged, but the broad curve of the nostrils can be made out. The remains of the mouth show thick lips that curl upwards into a smile.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
MCCM Permanent Collection Gallery, November 21, 2023 - Present
Published ReferencesHotel des Ventes, Marseille, Archeologie (25 Avril 1974), lot 109.
Melinda K. Hartwig, ed. Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 19.

ProvenancePurchased by Georges Ricard (1921-2012) from Hotel des Ventes, Marseille, France, April 25, 1974, lot 109. Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1975-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

Status

On view

Collections