Limestone Relief of Iti

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Old Kingdom, 5th-6th dynasty, 2498-2181 B.C.

Material: Limestone

Dimensions: 67 cm x 35 cm

Price: Sold

Ref: 1176

Provenance: English private collection prior to 1989. Thence in the Belgian private collection Karim Grusenmeyer. Exhibited in January 2016 at BRAFA in Brussels, as well as in March 2017 at TEFAF in Maastricht.

Condition: Surface cleaned and a few spots stabilized, some minor wear.

Description: Large limestone fragment depicting a striding dignitary to the left. He wears a short wig with curls set tightly in rows, as well as a kilt with almost vertical pleats. Above the figure, which holds in his left a scepter in vertical and in his right a mace in horizontal position, an inscription in several lines. Therein the Wab priest Iti is mentioned, "the overseer of the magistrate, the blessed Iti". This relief fragment originates for the burial chapel of a mastaba around Memphis. The relief, there is at least one parallel relief known on the art market, once served as a door jamb. It depicts Iti striding forth by day, reborn after death. According to the latest findings the present relief was discovered in a tomb in Giza with number D221, excavated between 1903 and 1907 by the German Egyptologist Georg Steindorff. See for reference in: "Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings", III. Memphis, Oxford 1974, page 117. Furthermore the stele is published in: Grusenmeyer-Woliner "A World of Sculpture IV", p. 124. Mounted.