Important Wood Statuette of a Standing Man from the Old Kingdom

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Old Kingdom, 6th dynasty, 2347-2216 B.C.

Material: Wood

Dimensions: 21.5 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 1479

Provenance: Old French private collection, 1970s due to the mounting. Thence with gallery Monique Bacquier and Eric Reiner. From there in the early 1990s acquired by the private collection Jean Deriat (1922-2016), thence in a family estate. Accompanied by a French antiquities passport.

Condition: Unrestored. The right side in places very worn. Right foot missing.

Description: Important and despite its fragmentary preservation elegant wood statuette of an Egyptian noble man from the Old Kingdom. The man stands upright, he wears a long, white kilt, tied over the belly and on the back clearly above the backside. The finely pleated vestment creates a triangular front and is figure hugging in the back. The man has short black hair, his features are delicately worked out. The eyes with fine outlines and long lid lines. The over long arms are straight hanging down, with the right hand resting on the apron. A very similar statue was found in 1923 in the tomb of Khenu in Saqqara, which adjoined to the famous mastaba of Wazir Mereruka. Khenu was possibly a grandson of Mereruka. The statue is today in the National Museum in Cairo (Inventory Number JE 47775; SR 14774) and is published in: Julia Harvey “Wooden Statues of the Old Kingdom. A typological Study”, Leyden 2001, p. 64-65. Here it is mentioned that during the excavations in 1923 in total three wood statuettes of the deceased were found, but the whereabouts of the other two is today unknown. Due to the very similar depiction and workmanship it is possible that the present statuette is one of the two depictions of Khenu. On an old wood base from the 1970s.