Description
Plaster cast of a small statue of the Pharaoh Amenemhat. Original is housed in the British Museum, circa 1991-1802 BCE (Dynasty XII).
Publication Date
1978
Type of Artwork
Statue
Time Period/Geographical Region
Ancient Egypt
Height (cm/in)
57.15 cm / 22.5 in
Width (cm/in)
17.78 cm / 7 in
Depth (cm/in)
34.29 cm / 13.5 in
Disciplines
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity | Sculpture
Recommended Citation
Morehead State University. Camden-Carroll Library., "Seated Statuette of Amenemhat" (1978). Metropolitan Museum of Art Cast Collection. 40.
https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/metropolitan_art_collection/40
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Comments
This statuette, or small statue, was originally executed in grey granite. It depicts the pharaoh Amenemhat, who reigned in the prosperous Twelfth Dynasty. Amenemhat is seated on a throne with an inscription in hieroglyphics, the Egyptian form of writing, located on either side of Amenemhat's legs. In Egyptian art, bodies were standardized according to a strict canon of proportions based on a unit called the cubit. A grid was used by painters and sculptors alike, with different parts of the body corresponding to different squares within the grid. Naturalism was sacrificed for a uniform idealized body. It is through this canonical grid system that Egyptian art remained so consistent throughout the millennia of pharaonic rule.