Portrait of a Pharaoh, possibly Ahmose I or Amenhotep I, Sixteenth Century BC
Red Granite
30 x 12.7 x 18.3 cm
11 3/4 x 5 x 7 1/4 in
11 3/4 x 5 x 7 1/4 in
GM.0020
A stunning and well-preserved red granite head of a Pharaoh dating to the 18th Dynasty, possibly Ahmose I (first Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty and of the New Kingdom) or...
A stunning and well-preserved red granite head of a Pharaoh dating to the 18th Dynasty, possibly Ahmose I (first Pharaoh of the 18th
Dynasty and of the New Kingdom) or his son Amunhotep I. The delicate and schematic facial features, along with the indented smile
allows to date this sculpture to the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. These features were not meant to constitute a faithful resemblance of the physical appearance of the portrayed king, but rather to recall images of earlier great rulers. Physical likeness was therefore ‘sublimated’ into an ideological and idealized portraiture, embodying the concept of power itself rather than the specific identity of the single ruler.
The figure is preserved from the chin up. The king is represented wearing the ‘Hedjet’, the White Crown of Upper Egypt. A back pillar rises almost to the top of the figure providing support. Cosmetic lines are well and plastically rendered. The ears are skilfully worked on a single plan.
All the stylistic details mentioned above allow to propose an identification with either Ahmose or his son Amunhotep I, the chief imitators of the earlier Middle Kingdom style. A particularly interesting comparable is a head preserved at the Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund (37.38E), along with a head of Ahmose I preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2006.270).
Dimensions given are exclusive of mounting.
Dynasty and of the New Kingdom) or his son Amunhotep I. The delicate and schematic facial features, along with the indented smile
allows to date this sculpture to the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. These features were not meant to constitute a faithful resemblance of the physical appearance of the portrayed king, but rather to recall images of earlier great rulers. Physical likeness was therefore ‘sublimated’ into an ideological and idealized portraiture, embodying the concept of power itself rather than the specific identity of the single ruler.
The figure is preserved from the chin up. The king is represented wearing the ‘Hedjet’, the White Crown of Upper Egypt. A back pillar rises almost to the top of the figure providing support. Cosmetic lines are well and plastically rendered. The ears are skilfully worked on a single plan.
All the stylistic details mentioned above allow to propose an identification with either Ahmose or his son Amunhotep I, the chief imitators of the earlier Middle Kingdom style. A particularly interesting comparable is a head preserved at the Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund (37.38E), along with a head of Ahmose I preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2006.270).
Dimensions given are exclusive of mounting.