Egypt, possibly Thebes
Ptolemaic Period
Basalt
Height 18.5 cm ( 7 1⁄4 in )
Former private collection Nicolas Koutoulakis (1910-1996), Paris and Geneva, acquired prior to 1996
R. Schulz, Die Entwicklung und Bedeutung des kuboiden Statuentypus, Hildesheim, 1992
I. Shaw, The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, "Block Statue.", Harris N. Abrams, New York 1995
B. von Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period 700 BC to 100 AD, The Brooklyn Museum, New York 1960
Acéphale Block Statue of Ankh Nefer Hotep entirely enveloped in a long coat. He is represented in a squatting seated position on a low rectangular cushion. Arms crossed on his knees with hands in relief on the upper surface of the cube formed by his folded body. The hands rest palm down with the right hand holding a lettuce. The back pilar and sides of the statue are uninscribed. The front of the legs are engraved with a representation of Ankh Nefer Hotep on the right, wearing a pleated long dress. He stands in adoration in front of the god Osiris on the left. The short hieroglyphic inscription above the scene names “Osiris” and “Ankh Nefer Hotep, justified”. A short column between the two reads “The divine worshipper, Unennefer”.
The block statue is a type of memorial statue that first emerged in the Middle Kingdom, grew in popularity in the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period, and by the Late Period, this type of statue was the most common. These durable statues were placed in temples typically as funerary monuments of non-royal yet important individuals. Their plein basic shape provided ample flat surfaces for inscriptions of offerings and invocations.