Amunhotep I in the White Crown
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Object Label
This raised relief shows Amunhotep I wearing a royal beard and the tall White Crown of Upper Egypt with a royal uraeus-cobra. The fragment comes from one of several chapels that Amunhotep I built within the Karnak Temple for the god Amun. These chapels imitate Middle Kingdom examples erected by Senwosret I of the Twelfth Dynasty, about four hundred years earlier. Certain features, however—including the curved iris of the eye, a long, curving nose with accentuated nostril, and a raised line around the corner of the mouth—typify Eighteenth Dynasty style.
Caption
Amunhotep I in the White Crown, ca. 1525–1504 B.C.E.. Limestone, 13 1/2 x 8 x 1 1/4 in. (34.3 x 20.3 x 3.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 71.82. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.71.82_erg2.jpg)
Title
Amunhotep I in the White Crown
Date
ca. 1525–1504 B.C.E.
Dynasty
Dynasty 18
Period
New Kingdom
Geography
Place found: Thebes (Karnak), Egypt
Medium
Limestone
Classification
Dimensions
13 1/2 x 8 x 1 1/4 in. (34.3 x 20.3 x 3.2 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
71.82
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
I'm looking at the "Face of Amunhotep II," and there's a picture of Amunhotep I nearby! Why do they look so different?
There are a few factors. First, carving a 3-D sculpture is a very different process from carving a relief. There are also differences in who created these.Why does Amunhotep II not come right after Amunhotep I?
In ancient Egypt, when a king was crowed he chose up to five names, in this case "Amunhotep" is the throne name that both of these kings chose.Of course, Amunhotep II chose his name to recall the accomplishments of Amunhotep I or because of their family relationship.Oh! I see. So that's why they look similar in the face? They both have narrow eyes?Partially, also that was a trend seen in the early part of the 18th Dynasty. Notice that the head of Hatshepsut has relatively similar facial features.So it's like Amunhotep I is the idol of Amunhotep II?It's possible. It's also possible that he didn't want to be compared to his immediate predecessor, Thutmose III who was a long reigning and successful pharaoh, so he chose the name of a different ancestor.Oh ! That make sense.Tell me more.
The king represented here, Amunhotep I, ruled during the first part of the 18th Dynasty. Kings from this time period were often depicted with these distinctive facial features--narrow eyes, a small nose, and a suggestion of a smile. Notice the similarities in images of kings named Thutmose, for example.
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