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Temple Block Statue of a Prince

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

This statue belonged to a son of King Osorkon II and Queen Karama who is shown in relief on the statue's left side. However, the statue was probably an earlier work usurped by the prince to serve his own religious purposes. Its face and wig are New Kingdom in style, an inscription on the base has been chiseled away, and the figure of Osiris was recut from a larger image.

MEDIUM Limestone
  • Reportedly From: Saqqara, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 874-850 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 22
    PERIOD Third Intermediate Period
    DIMENSIONS 13 15/16 × 7 5/16 × 8 3/4 in. (35.4 × 18.5 × 22.2 cm) mount: 14 × 7 1/4 × 9 in. (35.6 × 18.4 × 22.9 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.595E
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Limestone block statue of a prince. The arms and legs of the squatting figure are indicated. He sits upon a round cushion. In his right hand he holds a sistrum-like object (in relief). Above his left hand is a rectangular depression. The figure wears a long wig. The eyes are large and widely opened; the brows (in relief) are horizontal. The nose is straight with the tip upturned somewhat. The mouth is small and straight. There is a short beard which does not cover the chin. The plinth is rectangular. The back pillar is flat-topped. It reaches up to the bottom of the wig, and it protrudes out past the wig slightly (ca. .5 cm). Between the feet is a figure of Osiris standing upon a pedestal carved in high raised relief on the front of the prince. This figure of Osiris is flanked by two deities, in sunk relief, carved into the front of the figure of the prince. To the left is a cat-headed goddess holding a papyrus staff, and crowned with a disk. To the right is a figure of Amun holding a "was"-scepter. On the left side of the figure is a sunk relief representation of a standing woman wearing a hairdo topped with uraei. She is identified by an inscription before and above her as "The Royal Wife, Karoma." Behind and above her is a sunk relief representation of a seated goddess, crowned with a sun-disk (she is cow-headed), and holding a papyrus scepter. The right side of the figure is too chipped to determine if there were any reliefs. On the left side and front sides of the plinth there are traces of an illegible inscription. On the figure's left arm there is the cartouche of Osorkon II. Condition: Left side of figure flaked off (outer surface); back pillar's outer surface flaked off; front and right side of base missing (right front corner); flakes off much of surface.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Temple Block Statue of a Prince, ca. 874-850 B.C.E. Limestone, 13 15/16 × 7 5/16 × 8 3/4 in. (35.4 × 18.5 × 22.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.595E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.37.595E_NegA_print_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.37.595E_NegA_print_bw.jpg., 2007
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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