Black granite statue of Sarenput

Perhaps from Elephantine, Egypt
12th Dynasty, about 1900 BC

The governor of Elephantine in the reign of Senwosret II

Sarenput was the governor of the southernmost province of Egypt, which centred on the island of Elephantine at modern Aswan. His tomb at the local cemetery of Qubbet el-Hawa can still be visited today. It is not known exactly where this statue was originally sited, but a very similar statue of the same man has been found on Elephantine, in a sanctuary to the local governor Heqaib.

This statue of Sarenput is powerful and impressive; it shares stylistic characteristics with other products of the area. The ancient removal of the inlays in the eye-sockets has made it clear that the eyes were originally held in place by small dowels passing through the upper eyelids.

The statue is in two incomplete parts, which were reunited when the statue was being prepared for the Nubian Gallery at The British Museum in 1991.

W.V. Davies, A royal statue reattributed, British Museum Occasional Paper 28 (, 1981)

T.G.H. James and W.V. Davies, Egyptian sculpture (London, The British Museum Press, 1983)

B. Fay, 'Missing parts' in Chief of seers: Egyptian studi (London, 1997), pp. 97-103, figs 4-8

L. Habachi, The sanctuary of Heqaib, 2 volumes (Mainz, 1985)

T.G.H. James, Ancient Egypt: the land and it (London, 1988)