EGYPTIAN ART IN THE AGE OF THE PYRAMIDS THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK DISTRIBUTED BY HARRY N. ABRAMS, INC., NEW YORK This volume has been published in ulIljunction 1\\1 ri~brs reserwd. No pari 01 Ibis pnhli":II;on 'I'Llnsl:lli,,,,, Iwnl tbe I:relll·b hy .I:III1l·S p. Allen with the exhibition «Egyptian Art in the Age of Illay he reproduced or 'T:lIlSlllilled hy any Ill"ans, of essays hy Nadine CIl<'rpion and .Iean-Philipl'" the Pyramids," organized by The Metropolitan electronic or mechanical, indllding phorocopyin~, I.ann; hy .Iobn McDonald of essays by Niu,las Museum of Art, New York; the Reunion des recording, or information retrieval system, with­ Crilllal, I\ndran I.abrollsse, .Ie'lIl I.edant, and musees nationaux, Paris; and the Royal Ontario out permission from the publishers. Christiane Ziegler; by Jane Marie Todd and Museum, Toronto, and held at the Gaieries Catharine H. Roehrig of entries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, from April 6 John P. O'Neill, Editor in Chief to July 12, 1999; The Metropolitan Museum of Carol Fuerstein, Editor, with the assistance of Maps adapted by Emsworth Design, Inc., from Art, New York, from September 16, 1999, to Ellyn Childs Allison, Margaret Donovan, and Ziegler 1997a, PI'. 18, 19 January 9, 2000; and the Royal Ontario Museum, Kathleen Howard Toronto, from February 13 to May 22, 2000. Patrick Seymour, Designer, after an original con­ Jacket/cover illustration: Detail, cat. no. 67, cept by Bruce Campbell King Menkaure and a Queen Gwen Roginsky and Hsiao-ning Tu, Production Frontispiece: Detail, cat. no. 67, King Menkaure Robert Weisberg, Computer Specialist and a Queen The exhibition is made possible by Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman. Site and new object photography by Bruce Hieroglyphic dedication on page v from White; additional new object photography at Teachings ofPtah-hotep, 509-10. Addironal support has been provided by the Metropolitan Museum by Anna-Marie The Starr Foundation. Kellen and Oi-Cheong Lee, the Photograph Stu­ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data dio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Egyptian art in the age of the pyramids An indemnity has been granted by the Federal York. For a more complete listing of photograph p. em. Council on the Arts and the Humanities. credits, see p. 53 6. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sept. 16, 1999­ Educational programs have been supported by Set in Sabon and Adobe Weiss by Professional Jan. 9, 2000. the Malcolm Hewitt Wiener Foundation. Graphics, Rockford, Illinois Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87099-906-0 (HC). - ISBN 0-87099­ The publication is made possible by The Adelaide Separations by Professional Graphics, Rockford, 907-9 (pbk.) -ISBN 0-8109-6543-7 (Abrams) Milton de Groot Fund, in memory of the de Groot Illinois 1. Art, Egyptian Exhibitions. 2. Art, and Hawley families. Ancient-Egypt Exhibitions. 3. Egypt­ Printed and bound by Arnoldo Mnndadori, Antiquities Exhibitions. 4. Egypt-Architec­ Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, S.p.A., Verona, It,tly ture Exhibitions. I. Metropolitan Museum of New York Art (New York, N.Y.) N5350.E37 1999 Copyri~ht <D I \/\/\/ by The Merropolitan 709'·3 2'0747471-----<!C2I 99-22246 Museulll of I\rI, New York elP CONTENTS Lenders to the Exhibition VIII Directors' Foreword Franfoise Cachin, Philippe de Montebello, Lindsay Sharp x Acknowledgments Dorothea Arnold, Krzyszto( Grzymski, Christiane Ziegler XI Contributors to the Catalogue and Key to the Authors of the Entries XIV Maps XVI Notes to the Reader XVIII Chronology A Note on Egyptian Chronology Elisabeth David XIX Dynastic and Regnal Dates James P. Allen XX Introduction Dorothea Arnold, Christiane Ziegler XXI INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OLD KINGDOM 3 Jean Leclant THE STEP PYRAMID PRECINCT OF KING DJOSER Jean-Philippe Lauer PYRAMIDS AND THEIR TEMPLES 21 Audran Labrousse THE TOMBS OF OFFICIALS: HOUSES OF ETERNITY 27 Peter Janosi OLD KINGDOM STATUES IN THEIR ARCHITECTURAL SETTING 41 Dieter Arnold ROYAL STATUARY 51 Krzyszto( Grzymski NONROYAL STATUARY 57 Christiane Ziegler RESERVE HEADS: AN ENIGMA OF OLD KINGDOM SCULPTURE 73 Catharine H. Roehrig ROYAL RELIEFS 83 Dorothea Arnold THE HUMAN IMAGE IN OLD KINGDOM NONROYAL RELIEFS 103 Nadine Cherpion FURNITURE OF THE OLD KINGDOM II7 Julie Anderson STONE VESSELS: LUXURY ITEMS WITH MANIFOLD IMPLICATIONS 121 Dorothea Arnold and Elena Pischikova EXCAVATING THE OLD KINGDOM: FROM KHAFRE'S VALLEY 133 TEMPLE TO THE GOVERNOR'S CITY AT BALAT Nicolas Grimal EXCAVATING THE OLD KINGDOM: THE GIZA NECROPOLIS AND 139 OTHER MASTABA FIELDS Peter Der Manuelian EXCAVATING THE OLD KINGDOM: THE EGYPTIAN 155 ARCHAEOLOGISTS Zahi Hawass CATALOGUE THIRD DYNASTY 168 FOURTH DYNASTY 194 FIFTH DYNASTY 314 SIXTH DYNASTY 434 Glossary 494 Bibliography 495 Indexes 517 Photograph Credits 53 6 • , • 1. , , • • , - • '. r , , .' , • <. '.• •• " • • • , . • • • • , • , • • r •I • • EXCAVATING THE OLD KINGDOM The Egyptian Archaeologists ZAH I HAWASS n Egypt today it is generally believed that most of tian kingship, in modern times it has come to stand for the archaeological discoveries that have been made the Egyptian nation itself.4 in the country were achieved by foreign expeditions. The Layer Pyramid, built by Khaba in the Third I Very little has been written about the efforts and Dynasty and characterized by a superstructure typical of successes of native archaeologists, yet numerous Egyp­ the period, stands at Zawiyet el-Aryan, seven kilometers tians have excavated at sites throughout the land and to the north of Saqqara. And about one kilometer to the have contributed substantially to the field of Egyptology northwest of the Layer Pyramid the so-called Unfinished by means of their discoveries and research. Three gener­ Pyramid is found. This monument's ownership remains ations of Egyptian scholars have worked in the Mem­ in dispute, with some Egyptologists maintaining that it phite region, mostly at sites within the cemeteries at Giza, belonged to Djedefre of the Fourth Dynasty and others Saqqara, and Dahshur, and this essay takes a number of attributing it to Nebka of the same dynasty. their explorations as examples to shed light on native South of Zawiyet el-Aryan is Abusir, encompassing contributions to the study of the Old Kingdom. I the pyramids of most of the kings and queens of the Fifth Dynasty, among which the pyramid complex of Sahure is the best preserved. The remains of two sun temples stand BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE near Abusir, one of them at Abu Ghurab. As inscriptions MEMPHITE REGION reveal that six or more kings of the Fifth Dynasty had sun temples, we know that at least four such monuments The cemeteries of Memphis extend from Abu Rawash in have yet to be discovered. 5 the north to Meidum in the south and house tombs of Saqqara, south of Abusir, one of the principal ceme­ kings, queens, and officials from the time of the Archaic teries of the Archaic Period, was chosen by Djoser, of the Period to the end of the Old Kingdom. 2 Abu Rawash, Third Dynasty, as his eternal home. It was in what later which includes a large cemetery dating back to the First became the central section of this necropolis that the Dynasty, is dominated by the unfinished pyramid com­ architect Imhotep constructed Djoser's imposing Step plex of King Djedefre of the Fourth Dynasty.3 Farther Pyramid complex. A large step pyramid was begun south is the necropolis of Giza, site of the pyramid com­ nearby for Sekhemkhet, Djoser's successor; this structure, plexes of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure of the Fourth which was never finished, lies southwest of Djoser's com­ Dynasty and of many nonroyal tombs from the Old plex and is known as the Buried Pyramid. Userkaf and Kingdom. Presiding over Giza is the Great Sphinx, the Unis, the first and last kings of the Fifth Dynasty, built first colossal statue known from pharaonic Egypt. As an their own pyramid complexes near Djoser's Step Pyra­ archetype of antiquity, the image of the Sphinx has mid, and in the Sixth Dynasty others were erected in the stirred the imagination of poets, writers, adventurers, northern and southern parts of the necropolis, the most and tourists for centuries. Originally a symbol of Egyp- important being those of Teti, Pepi I, and Pepi II. Most Detail, Stela of Ra-wer (cat. no. 144) 155 Fig. 93. Zakaria Ghoneim, (left), Selim Hassan (fourth from left), and Zaki Saad (third from right), Saqqara, January 16, 1927 of these Fifth and Sixth Dynasty pyramids are associated Hag Ahmed Youssef; Hakiem Abou Seif; Abdel Salam with cemeteries for officials and nobles of the same Hussein; Ahmed Fakhry; Abdel Moneim Abu Bakr; period, some of whose tombs have beautifully carved Mounir Basta; Abdel Aziz Saleh; Mohamed Zaki or painted chapels. Nour; Abdel Taweb el-Heta; Rizkall Makra-Malla South of Saqqara are two other Old Kingdom ceme­ Second Generation: Ali Radwan; Gaballa Ali Gaballa; teries, the fields of Dahshur and Meidum. Snefru, the first Said Tawfik; Ahmed Moussa; Sami Farag; Mahmoud king of the Fourth Dynasty, built three pyramids at these Abdel Razik; Ali el-Khouli; Abdallah el-Sayed sites, the first at Meidum, the second and third at Third Generation: Zahi Hawass; Said el-Fikey; Holeil Dahshur.6 Important officials and relatives ofthe pharaohs Ghali; Khaled Daoud; Mohammed Hagrass; Magdy of the early Fourth Dynasty were buried in cemeteries el-Ghandour; Orban E. Abu el-Hassan; Ahmed Abdel not far from these pyramids. Hamied The collective achievements of these men form a rich THREE GENERATIONS OF EGYPTIAN corpus of material that would be an appropriate subject ARCHAEOLOGISTS for a future book. Here, however, space permits refer­ The following list records some of the most important ence to only the few Egyptologists whose names are ital­ scholars among the three generations of Egyptian archae­ icized, together with a brief discussion of some of the ologists who have conducted excavations in Memphite important discoveries they had the good fortune to make cemeteries between Abu Rawash and Meidum from the over the past eighty years.