Collection online

statue

• Object type

  • statue

• Museum number

  E174

• Description

  Granodiorite seated statue of Senenmut holding Neferura: the steward Senenmut sits on a conventional blocklike seat and holds his royal charge on his lap. With his left hand, he grasps her firmly; with the right he draws his enveloping ankle-length cloak tightly around them both. Otherwise there is no interaction between the figures; Senenmut and Neferura gaze straight ahead. The princess's sidelock and the gesture of placing the forefinger of her right hand to her mouth are iconographic features indicative of childhood. The statue is inscribed on the legs and block-seat.

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• Culture/period

  • 18th Dynasty

• Date

  • 1479BC (circa)

• Findspot

  • Excavated/Findspot: Temple of Amun, The 'cache' from which Budge said this came is subject to some dispute: James, BSFE 75 (1976), 7–30, Dewachter, CdE 54 (1979), 22-5 and Eaton-Krauss, JEA 85 (1999), 113-29.
  • (Africa,Egypt,Upper Egypt,Karnak (Thebes),Temple of Amun)

• Materials

  • granodiorite

• Technique

  • polished
  • incised

• Dimensions

  • Height: 72.5 centimetres
  • Width: 24 centimetres
  • Depth: 48 centimetres

• Inscriptions

  • • Inscription Type

      inscription

    • Inscription Script

      hieroglyphic

    • Inscription Translation

      Titles/epithets include : Chief Steward of the Royal Daughter Neferura
      Titles/epithets include : God's Wife of Amun
      Inscription: "as a favour of the Lady of the Two Lands, the God's Wife, Hatshepsut"

    • Inscription Comment

      Incised. The inscriptions on the statue include the information that Hatshepsut commissioned it for Senenmut. The queen is called "god's wife of Amun," a title that dates the sculpture to the period before she arrogated to herself the kingship as nominal co-regent of her stepson.

• Curator's comments

  The original placement of this statue is unknown. The invocation offerings on the front are given in the name of Amun, and seven aspects of the god are listed in the inscription on the proper left side of the seat. Therefore the statue probably stood somewhere in the precinct of Amun's temple, perhaps in the area of North Karnak, as one author has convincingly argued. In the inscriptions the names of Senenmut, Hatshepsut, and Amun are all intact, suggesting that the statue was buried out of harm's way before the periods when these names were attacked.

  Bibliography: 'Egyptian Treasures' [exhibition catalogue] (Shanghai, 1999), 36-37 No 2; The British Museum, 'Hieroglyphic texts from Egyptian stelae, etc., in the British Museum' Part 5 (London, 1914), Plates 30-32; B. Porter & R. Moss, 'Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings' II (Oxford, 1972), p.278;
  G. Robins, ‘The Art of Ancient Egypt’ (London, 1997), pp. 144-45 with fig. 186;
  T. G. H. James & W. V. Davies, ‘Egyptian Sculpture’ (London, 1983), p. 31 with fig. 34;
  N. Strudwick, Masterpieces of Ancient Egypt, London 2006, pp. 130-1.
  L. Delvaux, 'Hatchepsout, Senenmout et l'atelier de Neferkhaout' in Claes et al, Elkab and Beyond (OLA 191), 245-60.Permission to publish photograph of this object granted to Dr Edith Bernhauer in email 31/3/04. To be published in her thesis 'Die Innovationen in der Privatplastik der 18. Dynastie', in the Egyptological Memoirs (Brill) Series. [NCS]

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• Bibliography

  • Russmann 2001 44
  • Roehrig 2005 60
  • Andrews 2000 p.22-23
  • Shaw & Nicholson 1995 p.259
  • Hall 1914 pl.32
  • Strudwick 2006 pp.130-131

• Exhibition history

  Exhibited:

  2005 15 Oct-2006 29 Jan, San Francisco, M H Young Memorial Museum, Hatshepsut
  2006 20 Mar-9 Jul, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hatshepsut
  2006 26 Aug-10 Dec, Fort Worth, Kimbell Museum of Art, Hatshepsut
  2011Jul–Sept, Newcastle, Great North Museum, Pharaoh: King of Egypt
  2012 Oct–Jan, Dorchester, Dorset County Museum, Pharaoh: King of Egypt
  2012 Feb–June, Leeds City Museum, Pharaoh: King of Egypt
  2012 Jul-Oct, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Pharaoh: King of Egypt
  2012 Nov– 2013 Feb, Glasgow, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Pharaoh: King of Egypt
  2013 Mar–Aug, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery , Pharaoh: King of Egypt
  [Theme: Royal Life]
  2013, 25 Oct- 2014, 15 Feb, Wuhan, Hubei Provincial Museum, Pharaoh: King of Egypt, PROMISED

• Condition

  fair

• Science

  See investigations 

  Analysis date

  4 April 1991
  

  Reason for analysis

  Scientific Examination

  Analysis title

  Identification of Egyptian stone sculpture

  Analysis outline

  See also PR01233.

  Analysis reference number

  PR06071

  About these records 

• Associated names

  • Named in inscription & portrayed: Senenmut
  • Named in inscription & portrayed: Neferura
  • Named in inscription: Hatshepsut
  • Named in inscription: Amun

• Acquisition name

  • Purchased from: Mohammed Mohassib

• Acquisition date

  1906

• Department

  Ancient Egypt & Sudan

• BM/Big number

  E174

• Registration number

  1906,1115.1