RECONSTRUCTING a STATUE from a HEAD Rita E. Freed

reconstructing a statue from a head 109

RECONSTRUCTING A STATUE FROM A HEAD

Rita E. Freed Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

With great pleasure I dedicate this article about front, suggesting that the hair was longer on the an enigmatic Egyptian head to Jack Josephson, chest. There is no trace of a back pillar. a scholar, a friend, and an extraordinary human The face of the one-eared individual is round being. Like a teacher, he has challenged our and, except for the area around the eye, smooth assumptions, guided us in looking at Egyptian and devoid of modeling. The forehead is low, par- sculpture, and set a standard for connoisseur- ticularly on the proper-left side, where the wig ship that extends well beyond the Egyptologi- dips slightly more than on the right. This small cal sphere. I thought long and hard about what naturalistic detail, a response to the way hair would constitute a suitable contribution to a man unobstructed by an ear would normally fall, bears of Jack’s interests and stature. In the end, I chose testimony to the artist’s keen observation. The something that I believe is rare or even perhaps brows arch slightly over small, broadly spaced, unique in Egyptian art, just as Jack’s combina- and naturalistically rendered three-dimensional tion of expertise, warmth, and drive sets him apart eyes, whose almond shape is enhanced by an from others. incised line. Heavy upper eyelids make the eyes Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1980.29 is a gra- appear to glance downward. nodiorite head, measuring about half life-size From the midpoint of the nose to the chin, (figs. 1- 4). Only its right ear is exposed, while the the features are damaged. The blow that caused left remains covered by the wig, a most unusual this must have been administered from right to feature, given the strong preference for sym- left (and by a right-handed person), based on the metrical compositions throughout the dynasties. angle of the break. As a result, the left nostril and Clearly the deliberate exposing of just one ear the left corner of the mouth may still be seen. was done with a purpose in mind. In this paper, I What appears to have been straight lips end in will explore its possible meanings and attempt to a small circular depression. The underside of the reconstruct the rest of the statue. chin on the right side has also sustained damage. In view of the lack of inscription, findspot, or The ear is naturalistically carved and has a shal- other identifying information, only art-historical low, diagonally oriented, oval nick on the lobe analysis can shed more light on the head. The sub- (fig. 2), suggestive of a pierced ear. ject wears a wig parted in the center and decorated The details described above offer clues to the with vertical incised wavy lines and broader hori- gender and date of the anonymous head, as well zontal grooves imitating natural curls and waves. as the type of sculpture from which it came. Ver- At the back and sides, the wig ends at the nape of tically incised and horizontally modeled wigs are the neck, where several narrowly spaced incised found in both sculpture and relief beginning at lines merge, creating the appearance of thick, tight the end of the 18th Dynasty,1 but are particularly curls (figs. 3-4). Had the wig been cut straight, one common in the Ramesside Period.2 Although both would expect to see the same thicker curls in the men and women wore similarly curled wigs in front, since the neck break is approximately even. the 19th Dynasty, only masculine wigs ended at Instead, the thinly spaced lines continue on the neck level in the back but were longer in the front.

1 For example, the statue of the General Horemheb, NY, Museum 5910, both depicting Sety I and illustrated in MMA 23.10.1, illustrated in P. Dorman, P. Harper, and V. Solia, “A Group of Royal Sculptures from Abydos,” H. Pittman, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Egypt and the JARCE 19 (1992), figs. 26-27. Relief: Berlin 7291, illustrated Ancient Near East (New York, 1987), 67. in Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Ägyptisches Museum und 2 Sculpture: Cairo CG 751 and Vienna Kunsthistorisches Papyrus Sammlung (Mainz, 1991), 143. 110 rita e. freed

Fig. 1. Head of a man, frontal view. Egyptian, New Kingdom, Fig. 2. Head of a man, three-quarters view. Photograph Dynasty 19, 1295-1186 BC, Granodiorite, Height: 16 cm ©2009 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1980.29. (5 5/16 in.) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum Special Purchase Fund, Photograph ©2009 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1980.29.