<em>Block Statue of a High Official</em>, 305–30 B.C.E. Diorite, 15 3/8 x 6 9/16 x 7 7/8 in., 42.5 lb. (39 x 16.7 x 20 cm, 19.28kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 69.115.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 69.115.1_SL1.jpg)

Block Statue of a High Official, 305–30 B.C.E. Diorite, 15 3/8 x 6 9/16 x 7 7/8 in., 42.5 lb. (39 x 16.7 x 20 cm, 19.28kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 69.115.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 69.115.1_SL1.jpg)

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What is the term that describes the kind of pictorial writing found on these statues?

In general, the writing on the pieces you'll see in the galleries can all be referred to as Egyptian hieroglyphs or simply hieroglyphs, the writing system used in ancient Egypt.

Block Statue of a High Official

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

Wealthy men like the official represented here, called Nesthoth, could commission statues carved from a rare hard stone like diorite. Since the Egyptians believed that after a person died their soul could inhabit a statue, commissioning such images for the temple allowed one to be perpetually present during temple processions and behold the image of the temple god. The slight tilt of Nesthoth’s head suggests the attitude of a pious man looking up at the divine procession.

MEDIUM Diorite

Possible Place Made: Thebes (Karnak), Egypt

DATES 305–30 B.C.E.

PERIOD Ptolemaic Period

DIMENSIONS 15 3/8 x 6 9/16 x 7 7/8 in., 42.5 lb. (39 x 16.7 x 20 cm, 19.28kg) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 69.115.1

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Black diorite statue inscribed for a man named Djehuty-nes. Djehuty-nes wears a plain, heavy wig, and a short beard. In each hand he holds the sign for life. His nose is fairly straight and his eyebrows are horizontal. Eyebrows, upper eyelid rims and cosmetic lines are executed in relief. Carved in sunk relief, in that portion of the robe which covered the front of the figure’s legs, is a frontal representation of a baboon crowned with a sun-disk supported by a half-moon. The figure rests upon a base which is rounded in the front. In the rear, a back pillar rises from the base up to the bottom edge of the wig. The back pillar is decorated with two columns of inscription, and a single line of inscription runs around the base. The hieroglyphs, which are only roughly pecked-out, are apparently unfinished. A fault or vein in the stone, appearing as a whitish line, runs around the figure passing through the head on the rear and left side. Condition: Large chips in the front of the base; smaller chips in the other sides of the base. Smaller chips here and there. The piece has been scratched, especially on the rear. Incrusted dirt here and there, mostly on the front of the figure.

EXHIBITIONS

To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view on the 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Block Statue of a High Official, 305–30 B.C.E. Diorite, 15 3/8 x 6 9/16 x 7 7/8 in., 42.5 lb. (39 x 16.7 x 20 cm, 19.28kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 69.115.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 69.115.1_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 69.115.1_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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RIGHTS STATEMENT 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.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What is the term that describes the kind of pictorial writing found on these statues?

In general, the writing on the pieces you'll see in the galleries can all be referred to as Egyptian hieroglyphs or simply hieroglyphs, the writing system used in ancient Egypt.