Relief showing two royal
figures
From Saqqara, Egypt
1st or
2nd Dynasty, 3000–2800 BC
A sculptor's trial
piece?
In addition to the human figures at the right
of this object, the other carvings show birds (for example, an owl)
and animals (a baboon). The significance of these carvings, which
might be
hieroglyphs,
is not clear. The two figures at the right are kings wearing the
robes associated with the
sed festival and the
deshret, the crown of
Lower Egypt (as worn by the colossal stone head of Amenhotep III,
in the Museum). Two such figures together are not normal, and it is
possible that this stone was actually a sort of sculptor's
trial piece, on which he was experimenting with various ideas.
However, given that our comprehension of early texts and pictures
is minimal, this might be too simple an
explanation.
On the back of
the object is a grid of 1.6 cm squares incised into the stone;
which might support the theory of this being a slab for
artist's practice. If this is a grid for laying out a
scene, it would be among the earliest known.
W.B. Emery, Great tombs of the First Dynas (London, 1958)
A.J. Spencer, Catalogue of Egyptian antiqu-4 (London, The British Museum Press, 1980)