Quartzite statue of Nakhthorheb

Probably from the Delta region, Egypt
26th Dynasty, around 590 BC

A high official of the reign of Psammetichus II

Nakhthorheb was a high official during the reign of Psammetichus II (664-610 BC). This over life-size statue is one of a number of monuments of Nakhthorheb from various sites. It is reasonable to assume that it may also have come from northern Egypt, as texts on this object evoke the gods Osiris and Neith at Sais, in the Nile Delta.

The statue was probably set up in a temple to illustrate Nakhthorheb's piety, and it is one of a group of statues in which the gaze of the face is raised slightly, indicating adoration, or 'apotheosis', of the temple god. The muscles of the body have been very carefully modelled, indicating the forms in a strong yet subtle manner.

E.R. Russmann, 'The statue of Amenemope-em-hat' in Ancient Egypt in the Metropoli (New York, 1977)

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

S.B. Schubert, 'Realistic currents in portrait sculpture of the Saite and Persian periods in Egypt', Journal of the Society for the, 19 (1989)

E.R. Russmann, Eternal Egypt: masterworks of (University of California Press, 2001)