Objects For Eternity: Verlag Philipp Von Zabern - Mainz Am Rhein
Objects For Eternity: Verlag Philipp Von Zabern - Mainz Am Rhein
Objects For Eternity: Verlag Philipp Von Zabern - Mainz Am Rhein
Edited by
Carol A.R. Andrews and Jacobus van Dijk
With contributions by
Advisors
Barbara G. Aston (stone)
Birgit Schlick-Nolte (faience and glass)
Translator
Julia Harvey
Line drawings
Julia Harvey and William Schenck
1 3
For more general information about wood in Ancient Egypt, Killen, Egyptian Woodworking, 19 – 21.
4
see R. Gale, P. Gasson, N. Hepper, G. Killen, “Wood”, in M. Saleh and H. Sourouzian, The Egyptian Museum Cairo.
P.T. Nicholson and I. Shaw (ed.), Ancient Egyptian Materials Official Catalogue (Mainz am Rhein 1987), no. 78.
5
and Technology (Cambridge 2000), 334 – 371, and G. Killen, Killen, Egyptian Woodworking, 54, fig. 62.
Egyptian Woodworking and Furniture (Princes Risborough
1994).
2
N. de G. Davies, The Tomb of Rekh-mi-re at Thebes II (New
York 1943), Pl. LV.
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1.34 Torso of a man also traces of red-painted plaster around the socket
for the right arm. The nipples were probably originally
Wood. painted black on this layer of red plaster, something
Old Kingdom, end of Dynasty 6, c. 2150 BC. known on many other statues of the period. The break
H. 13.9 cm, W. 7.5 cm, D. 6.2 cm. at the waistline is slightly higher in front than behind,
which means that it is probably not along the skirt line
– skirts and kilts in the Old Kingdom were always lower
This torso of a man is missing its arms and is broken off in front and higher at the back. There is a small patch of
at the waistline. The man is wearing a black-painted superficial damage on the crown of the head.
skullcap or his own hair cut very short, as is shown by On the basis of parallels from the corpus of wooden
the traces of black paint. These are particularly visible statues of the Old Kingdom,1 we can postulate that the
around the ears, despite a layer of dark varnish which statue was originally a standing or striding figure, wear-
now covers the statue. The right ear is intact and much ing an apron-fronted kilt and probably holding the front
of the inner detail of the auricle is carved. Although the flap of the kilt in his right hand. The left arm would also
left ear is damaged, some details of the auricle are still have been pendent but there is no way of knowing
clearly visible. whether the hand was clenched or open. The arms were
The facial features are relatively large for the size of the originally attached to the body with pegs that fitted into
head, but this is not unknown on wooden statues of this the holes visible on the shoulders. The original height
period. The brows are carved very prominently over would have been somewhere around 30 cm.
large eyes and heavy eyelids. The lower lids even impose Carbon 14 analysis has dated the wood to the Old King-
into the cheek area, resulting in rounded “apple” dom period.2 The parallels for the style of the face3 sug-
cheeks. The cosmetic lines at the inside and outside gest a date towards the end of the 6th Dynasty, in the
corners of the eyes are also clearly indicated. The nose period of the reign of Pepi II.
is well shaped with a slight blunting at the tip. Although JH
the nostrils are not hollowed out, the curl around the
outside is clearly indicated. The contours of the mouth,
like those of the eyes, are rather too large for the face.
1
They impose on the area of the chin, resulting in the J. Harvey, Wooden Statues of the Old Kingdom (Leiden 2001),
chin being rather small with a tendency to recede. The Cat. Nos. A 76 (Cairo CG 506), B17 (Hildesheim RPM 67),
lips are carefully outlined with clear corners; they are B 39 (Berlin Inv. 1363).
2
See Appendix B.
slightly pursed. The head is set on a short, stocky neck. 3
The best parallels are provided by the statues from a group
The collarbone is carved but there is no trace of nipples, found in tomb 24 at Dahshur: Harvey, Wooden Statues,
either carved or painted. A 70–A 76, and the statues from the Tjeteti group: A 83 –
There is a thin layer of plaster visible in traces on the A 102. Of this group, A 96 is Cat. No. 1.36 in the present
back of the statue despite the varnish layer. There are catalogue.
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1.36 Statue of Tjeteti above and below the eyes, those below giving the
impression that Tjeteti has bags under his eyes. The
Wood. nose is well carved with a straight bridge and the curve
Old Kingdom, Dynasty 6, end of the reign of Pepi II, of the nostrils is very pronounced. The cheeks are
c. 2150 BC. rounded, with sharply defined lower edges. The mouth
H. 38.8 cm, Base: H. 4.1 cm, W. 9.3 cm, D. 20.8 cm. is very large and wide, with clearly outlined lips. The
chin is small but well shaped. The neck is set onto
straight shoulders and the collarbone is only indicated
This wooden statue of a man called Tjeteti is one of a on the left shoulder. The chest and waist are narrow;
group of wooden statues found in his tomb at Saqqara,1 unlike many other statues of the period, the nipples on
the necropolis associated with the city of Memphis, the this statue are not carved but only indicated in black
capital of ancient Egypt, about 25 km south of present- paint, faint traces of which can still be discerned. The
day Cairo. The tomb was found in the excavation season kilt is the half-goffered type with a carved tab up onto
1921 – 22 by Cecil Firth in the Teti Pyramid Cemetery, the belly to the left-hand side of the navel. The goffers
the area next to the pyramid of King Teti, the first king are indicated by vertical carved lines on the front right
of the 6th Dynasty. The cemetery continued to be used side of the kilt. The arms are pendent, and still attached
for the interments of officials long after the death of to the thigh at wrist level. The fists are clasped with
Teti, and the tomb of Tjeteti is one of these later burials. long, extended thumbs. The thumbnails are indicated,
In line with a common practice of the time, which has but the right hand is much more delicately carved than
long since been abandoned, items from the tomb were the left. The left leg is extended, giving the impression
given to the people or institutions who had sponsored that the statue is taking a step. The right leg is very
the excavations in return for their assistance. In this way slightly to the rear. The knees are clearly and naturalis-
the contents of the tomb, which numbered twenty tically carved and the ankles are also pronounced. The
wooden statues, one of them female, three female offer- feet are large and the toes and toenails are clearly
ing bearers, several model groups and a seated lime- defined. The left leg is slightly slimmer than the right;
stone statue of the tomb owner, became dispersed. this is probably due to the difficulties of carving from a
Most of the objects ended up in museum collections, single piece of wood.
and in 1985 an attempt was made to reconstruct the The original thin painted plaster layer that would have
contents of the tomb by Bengt Peterson of the Medel- covered the statue is now missing. There are traces of
havsmuseet in Stockholm, which houses three of the black on the wig and the base and around the right eye;
male statues.2 He was able to publish some of the origi- traces of red can be discerned on the face and under the
nal excavation photographs and eventually was able to right arm. The skin of males was usually painted red,
relocate 14 of the original 19 male statues. During re- whereas that of females was usually yellow, perhaps a
search for a catalogue of Old Kingdom wooden statues, reference to the difference in the amount of time spent
a further two statues belonging to the tomb group were outside in the sun by males and females. The statue has
identified, one of which is this statue.3 The three re- a slight twist to the left, particularly obvious when
maining male statues and the female statue are still viewed from behind, which is probably due to the ne-
unlocated.4 cessity of following the grain of the wood.
This Tjeteti statue is carved from a single piece of wood, The figure is standing on a base which has a short verti-
even including the front part of the left foot, which is cal column of inscription in front of the right foot. It
usually a separate piece. Although the general condition was also originally covered in painted plaster, remains of
of the statue is good, there are several minor cracks which can be seen around the feet. The inscription
down the front and a wider split on the left side of the reads “The Overseer of the Two Granaries, Tjeteti”.
face; a large knothole is visible on the chest. Tjeteti is This title is a very high administrative one, with a cer-
wearing the so-called echelon-curl wig with one long tain honorific character as well. It is first known from
layer to the level of the forehead and then several short- the reign of Nyuserre of the 5th Dynasty.5 One other
er overlapping layers, covering the ears. The facial fea- statue from the tomb, now in the Boston Museum of
tures have been well defined. The brow ridge is clearly Fine Arts,6 has the same title. Some of the titles on the
but unobtrusively carved; the details of the eyebrows other statues of Tjeteti also seem to have agricultural
were originally painted black. The eyes are rounded connotations, ranging from “Overseer of the Fields”
with very extended canthi. The eyelids are full both and “Overseer of Milkers” to “Overseer of the Labour
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Establishment”. There are also some titles which have customer just walk in and choose his statues off the
to do with proximity to the king, such as “Overseer of shelf? This question becomes particularly interesting
the Sealed Document”, a scribal title, and the honor- when we compare this Tjeteti figure with the next
ific title “Sole Friend”. He is also “Overseer of the statue in the catalogue. We know almost for certain that
House of the Master of Largess”, the department in the anonymous male does not belong to the original
charge of the provisioning of the King’s table – a very Tjeteti tomb group, despite the obvious visual similari-
important function.7 ties, because he does not appear in any of the original
In the Old Kingdom, the variety of objects placed in excavation photographs. What is equally certain, how-
tombs began to increase. Whereas previously only the ever, is that the figure must come from the same period
king and his immediate family could provide themselves and workshop, otherwise the similarities cannot be ex-
with a rich tomb and lavish burial goods, by the 6th plained. Sadly, too many of the wooden statues placed
Dynasty many more levels of society were in a position in burials at the end of the Old Kingdom have not sur-
to do so. Among the many objects placed in the tombs vived the ravages of time, making it virtually impossible
were statues of the tomb owner and of his wife, in both for us to gather together a sufficiently large sample from
stone and wood. These statues were designed as sub- one location to identify individual hands or even work-
stitutes for the physical body, should something happen shops. It is easy to posit the same hand at work in a
to it. single tomb group; what would be really interesting,
The earliest surviving nonroyal wooden statues date however, would be if we could spot that same hand at
from the 4th Dynasty,8 when only one or two statues work in a different group.
were provided for a tomb. By the 6th Dynasty, however, The wood used to make the statues was nearly always
tombs were equipped with many more statues, and indigenous, i.e. from trees that grew naturally in the
often these were made of wood. In tomb groups with Nile valley. However, very few statues have actually had
both wood and stone statues, the stone statues are their wood tested.10 The most common types of wood
always seated and the wooden statues are striding or were sycomore and acacia, with tamarisk popular for
standing. The few seated wooden statues that are known the bases. If a foreign wood was used then it was usual-
are always part of a larger group of wooden statues. The ly ebony, from further south in the continent of Africa,
tomb group of Tjeteti also includes a seated wooden or cedar, from the Lebanon. This statue may well be
statue, now in Neuchatel.9 made of acacia.
An interesting characteristic of the Tjeteti group is that JH
all the male statues have their arms carved from the
same piece of wood as the torsos, something that is
unique to this group. It is more usual for one or both
1
arms to be attached to the shoulders by internal pegs J. Harvey, Wooden Statues of the Old Kingdom. A Typological
Study (Leiden 2001), Cat. Nos. A 83 – 102.
which may or may not be visible on the surface. The 2
B. Peterson, “Finds from the Theteti Tomb at Saqqara”,
statue on display here is the only one of the group to be
Medelhavsmuseet Bulletin 20 (1985), 3 – 24.
made entirely from a single piece of wood – the fronts 3
Harvey, Wooden Statues, Cat. No. A 96.
of the feet of the others are separately carved and 4
Harvey, Wooden Statues, Cat. Nos. 74 – 78.
5
attached with pegs to their bases. What is particularly N. Strudwick, The Administration of Egypt in the Old Kingdom
interesting about the statues from the tomb of Tjeteti is (London 1985), 337.
6
the wide range of quality in the carving, and the range Boston MFA 24.606; see Harvey, Wooden Statues, Cat. No. A 85.
7
of groups and sub-groups of styles. At least two sculp- A.H. Gardiner, “The House of Life and the Master of the
King’s Largess”, JEA 24 (1938), 83 – 91. On Tjeteti’s titles see
tors must have been involved in the carving, which in
also Peterson, Medelhavsmuseet Bulletin 20, 3 – 4.
turn implies that there must have been a workshop of 8
Harvey, Wooden Statues, Cat. Nos. A 1 and A 2.
some sort in the area. 9
Neuchatel, Musée d’Ethnographie, Eg. 329; see Harvey,
We know very little about workshops from this period. Wooden Statues, Cat. No. A 101.
10
Did the artisans work to order, or could a prospective For C 14 readings see Appendix B.
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1.37 Statue of an unknown man to be elongated slightly, a tendency that may indicate a
slightly later date than the Tjeteti group.
Wood. JH
Old Kingdom, Dynasty 6, end of the reign of Pepi II,
c. 2150 BC.
H. as preserved 26.5 cm (base modern).
270
1.01
1.02 a
1.02 b
1.02 c
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1.03 1.04
1.05 1.06
1.07 1.08
1.09 1.10
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1.11
1.12 1.13
1.14
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1.15
1.16
1.17
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1.20 a
1.18 1.20 b
1.19