Large Basalt Torso of a Striding Man

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Late period, 664-332 B.C.

Material: Basalt

Dimensions: 25 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 1402

Provenance: Gallery Le Corneur-Roudillon, Paris 1969. There described by the French Egyptologist Jacques Jean Clère (1906-1989). Thence in a Japanese private collection since 1974. Later with Sotheby’s New York on 5 December 2007, lot 22. Last in a Belgium private collection.

Condition: Unrestored

Description: Important basalt torso of a striding man, which was already published in 1969. His arms are placed on the body, and his fists hold the emblematic staves. The left leg bent forward in a striding position. He wears a pleated, finely ribbed, tripartite apron with a middle ribbon. On the back pillar and on one side a finely drawn, deeply engraved inscription mentioning the owner of the statue "as the scribe of the first working group of the temple of Nekhbet, the third prophet of Montu, lord of Tod, and prophet of Min and of Harpocrates in the temple of Tod". The text refers to the temple in el-Tod, dedicated to the falcon-headed god of war Montu, 20 kilometre south west of Luxor. This large and important fragment was described already in 1969 by the Egyptologist Jacques Jean Clère (1906-1989) and included in his archives. The archive is kept today in the Griffith Institute of the University of Oxford. Mounted.