Funerary Figurine of Montuemhat
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Object Label
The dancelike positions of the three nude women in this fanciful landscape recall the choreography of the famed Isadora Duncan, who had just returned to the United States in 1908 to promote her innovative dance movements, based on a free-form style that she attributed to the ancient Greeks. The painting most likely grew out of Davies' familiarity with Duncan's theory that the essence of dance technique rested in natural breathing paralleling the rhythms of the ocean tides--hence the painting's title. In Davies' hands this subject takes on a curious mixture of spirituality, academicism, and modernity that testifies to the eclecticism of his art.
Caption
Egyptian. Funerary Figurine of Montuemhat, ca. 670–650 B.C.E.. Steatite, 8 3/4 x 3 x 2 in. (22.2 x 7.6 x 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 60.182. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 60.182_SL1.jpg)
Culture
Title
Funerary Figurine of Montuemhat
Date
ca. 670–650 B.C.E.
Dynasty
late Dynasty 25 to early Dynasty 26
Period
Late Third Intermediate Period to early Late Period
Geography
Reportedly from: Thebes, Egypt, Possible place collected: Thebes (el-Asasif), Egypt
Medium
Steatite
Classification
Dimensions
8 3/4 x 3 x 2 in. (22.2 x 7.6 x 5.1 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
60.182
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
What is the term that describes the kind of pictorial writing found on these statues?
In general, the writing on the pieces you'll see in the galleries can all be referred to as Egyptian hieroglyphs or simply hieroglyphs, the writing system used in ancient Egypt.
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