<em>Private Statuette</em>, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 3 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 2 1/4 in. (8.9 x 2.7 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 29.1310. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 29.1310_SL1.jpg)

Private Statuette, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 3 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 2 1/4 in. (8.9 x 2.7 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 29.1310. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 29.1310_SL1.jpg)

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Why did the Egyptians make these statues?

Something of this scale likely served as a model; a stand-in for an actual man holding a lotus. In the afterlife, the soul of a deceased person could inhabit a statue of themselves.

Most of these statues aren't portrait sculpture in a modern sense. For ancient Egyptians, writing a person's name on the sculpture was the necessary element to make tie a statue to a person.

Thanks

You're welcome! You can tell when a sculpture is of a man, because his skin is often painted a dark red. Women were generally depicted with pale yellow or white skin.

What does private statue mean?

When Egyptologists use the word "private" it means that the object belongs to a private individual and a private individual is anyone other than the king and his immediate family.

So, this "Private Statuette," is quite simply a statuette that depicts and belonged to someone outside of the royal family.

Why have very few private sculptures survived?

I know that at Akhetaten (the ancient name of Amarna), there was a real emphasis on art dedicated to the royal family.

Perhaps not as many sculptures of private (meaning non-royal) individuals were made or maybe many of them were taken away when the city was abandoned only a few decades after it was built.

Private Statuette

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Amarna Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

MEDIUM Limestone, pigment

Place Excavated: Tell el-Amarna, Egypt

DATES ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E.

DYNASTY late Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom, Amarna Period

DIMENSIONS 3 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 2 1/4 in. (8.9 x 2.7 x 5.7 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 29.1310

CREDIT LINE Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society

PROVENANCE North Administrative building at Tell el Amarna, Egypt; 1924-25, excavated by Francis Giesler Newton and Thomas Whittemore for the Egypt Exploration Society (excavation no. 24-25/206); 1929, gift of the Egypt Exploration Society to the Brooklyn Museum.

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EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Amarna Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Private Statuette, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 3 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 2 1/4 in. (8.9 x 2.7 x 5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society, 29.1310. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 29.1310_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE threequarter, 29.1310_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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