Fragment of a kneeling figure wearing a short loincloth with two lines of hieroglyphic inscription indicating part of a hymn, a call to the solar deity.
Egypt
New Kingdom , 1550-1070 BC
Granit
Height 12.5 cm ( 4 7⁄8 in )
Width 10.5 cm ( 4 1⁄8 in )
Depth bottom 4 cm ( 1 5⁄8 in )
Former private collection France acquired in the 1970/80’s
C. Barbotin : Un cas égyptien de texte constitutif de l’image : Les statues stéléphores, Revue d’études antiques 93, Pallas 2013
Grassart-Blésès : La statue stéléphore de Mâhou, Société d’égyptologie Genève, Bulletin 30, Genève 2014-2015
Fragment of a kneeling figure wearing a short loincloth with two lines of hieroglyphic inscription indicating part of a hymn, a call to the solar deity. The text evokes the participation in the journey of the sun.
The inscription is very fragmentary: "I (this is the character speaking) .... obscure darkness ... I provide your servants (sun) who are in the Duat ... my dignity ..." The text ends in mid-sentence and was certainly continued on the plinth of the statue.
This fragment is a part of what is called a stelophorous statue, a figure holding an inscribed stela in front of him or on his lap. In this case, the text was written directly on the owner's loincloth. This monument was certainly placed by the dedicator in a temple to ask for favours from the gods.