Skip Navigation

High Priest as King (?)

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

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

The highly idealizing treatment of this face, including the narrow eyebrows, the sharp vertical lines running down the nose, the full round cheeks, and the small mouth, is paralleled on some of the Twenty-first Dynasty's few royal sculptures and reliefs. Moreover, the cavity on the forehead once accommodated a uraeus cobra, a symbol of royalty. Still, the head does not necessarily represent a king. It may be one of the dynasty's high priests, who often usurped royal insignias, including the uraeus, as a sign of their authority over Upper Egypt during the political turmoil of the period.

MEDIUM Quartzite
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1070–945 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 21
    PERIOD Third Intermediate Period
    DIMENSIONS 4 7/16 x 2 7/8 x 3 1/4 in. (11.3 x 7.3 x 8.3 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 36.835
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    PROVENANCE Archaeological provenance not yet documented; prior to 1819, reportedly in the collection of Charles-Philippe Campion de Tersan of France; by 1841, acquired by James-Alexandre de Pourtalès, Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier of Switzerland; February-March 1865, purchased from the James-Alexandre de Pourtalès, Comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier collection sale, “Vente de la galerie Pourtales”, by Lord William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney, of London, United Kingdom; June 13-17, 1921, sold at Sotheby’s London, “The Amherst Collection of Egyptian and Oriental Antiquities”, lot 258; between 1921 and 1936, provenance not yet documented; before 1936, acquired by Dikran Kelekian of New York, NY; 1936, purchased from Dikran Kelekian by the Brooklyn Museum.
    Provenance FAQ
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Red quartzite head presumably a king, originally fitted with bronze uraeus, now missing. Head entirely shaved, prominent ears. Condition: Chin chipped, various minor chips.
    CAPTION High Priest as King (?), ca. 1070–945 B.C.E. Quartzite, 4 7/16 x 2 7/8 x 3 1/4 in. (11.3 x 7.3 x 8.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 36.835. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 36.835_threequarter_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE threequarter, 36.835_threequarter_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "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
    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.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.