Statue of King Mentuhotep II in the Jubilee Garment
Dynasty 11, reign of Mentuhotep II (ca. 2051-2000 BCE)
Sandstone, remains of paint
From Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, MMA excavations, 1921-22
Rogers Fund, 1926 (26.3.29)
Statue of King Mentuhotep II in the Jubilee Garment
Dynasty 11, reign of Mentuhotep II (ca. 2051-2000 BCE)
Sandstone, remains of paint
From Thebes, Deir el-Bahri, MMA excavations, 1921-22
Rogers Fund, 1926 (26.3.29)
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(From info card): "Statues of this type stood below each of the trees that lined the processional path to the temple of Mentuhotep. The rough, rectangular base was inserted into the ground. The head with the 'red' crown of Lower Egypt was found in the same area but may not belong to this particular body. The king wears the traditional short mantle of the pharoah's thirty-year jubilee festival (Heb Sed). In his fists were the now missing scepter and flail of Egyptian kings and the god Osiris, probably made of metal. "The style is intentionally archaic, because these statues commemorated Mentuhotep's achievements in reunifying the country and thus restoring the original composition of the Egyptian state. This accomplishment was proclaimed to the people through a statue of the king that looked like a work from the very beginning of Egyptian history." |
