Collection
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Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Overseer of the Treasury, Ptahhotep

521–486 B.C.E.

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Object Label

Ptahhotep is shown in a Persian costume that Egyptian officials adopted under the Persian rulers to imitate Persian court attire. The jacket with flaring sleeves, over which a skirt is wrapped, is complemented by a Persian bracelet and torque (a bar-like necklace) as well an Egyptian pectoral, or chest plaque. These accessories give Ptahhotep the overall appearance of an Egypto-Persian official, one whose dress speaks clearly of his loyalty to the Persian king. The rendering of the two ibexes that terminate the torque, however, is typically Egyptian, with the heads shown from the side. This treatment, together with the pectoral showing Ptah and the lion-headed goddess Sakhmet, underscores the essentially Egyptian nature of the statue.

Caption

Overseer of the Treasury, Ptahhotep, 521–486 B.C.E.. Quartzite, 35 × 12 × 13 in., 252 lb. (88.9 × 30.5 × 33 cm, 114.31kg) mount (dimensions as installed): 36 × 12 × 13 in. (91.4 × 30.5 × 33 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.353. Creative Commons-BY

Title

Overseer of the Treasury, Ptahhotep

Date

521–486 B.C.E.

Dynasty

early Dynasty 27

Period

First Persian Period

Geography

Possible place made: Memphis, Egypt, Possible place collected: Cairo, Egypt

Medium

Quartzite

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

35 × 12 × 13 in., 252 lb. (88.9 × 30.5 × 33 cm, 114.31kg) mount (dimensions as installed): 36 × 12 × 13 in. (91.4 × 30.5 × 33 cm)

Credit Line

Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number

37.353

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

  • What happened to the rest of this?

    It's quite simply very old! This sculpture of a man named Ptahhotep is over 2500 years old and it got a little beaten up since then. We don't know where the broken off pieces are.

  • Did they melt the sandstone to make the statute and chisel it?

    In ancient sculpture, the stone would not be melted. Rough shaping would be done with chisels, but the fine curves and polished surface that you see here would have been achieved with abrasives much like we use sandpaper today.
    Thanks

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