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Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Fragmentary Egyptian portrait of a high official, Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, 1985–1795 BC
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Fragmentary Egyptian portrait of a high official, Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, 1985–1795 BC

Fragmentary Egyptian portrait of a high official, Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, 1985–1795 BC

Basalt
Dimensions: 9.3 x 9.5 x 5.4cm
11921 TA
£ 65,000
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%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EFragmentary%20Egyptian%20portrait%20of%20a%20high%20official%3C/span%3E%2C%20%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3EMiddle%20Kingdom%2C%2012th%20Dynasty%2C%201985%E2%80%931795%20BC%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EBasalt%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3EDimensions%3A%209.3%20x%209.5%20x%205.4cm%3C/div%3E

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Highly refined fragment of a male head, which preserves the upper part of his face characterised by pronounced cheekbones, hooded eyes and precisely rendered wig. Under a wide brow his heavily lidded, somewhat protruding eyes are narrowed to elongated slits with creases at the outer edges and below the inner corner of his left eye, indicating age, the upper part of his large right ear remaining. The front half of his wig, depicted with delicately drawn, finely rendered strands of hair, radiating outwards from the central point of the crown of his head and terminating across the forehead in a series of rectangles incised with six horizontal lines, likely representing tight curls or perhaps layers of hair. A fragment without restoration.

The style of the wig and the treatment of the eyes are typical of the period. The damage to the face seems to indicate that it was inflicted deliberately, and with some violence.
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Provenance

Khawam Brothers, Cairo, Egypt, by 1955
Jean-Michel Yoyotte (1927-2009) "Poupouti", Paris, France; acquired from the above in 1955
Thence by descent

Yoyotte's inventory is with the son of Jean and Michèle Yoyotte. The inventory included not only archaeological finds but also Michèle Yoyotte's important collection of tribal art, and attests to the 1955 acquisition date.

Literature

Compare Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto (eds), Ancient Egypt Transformed, The Middle Kingdom (New York, 2015), cats. 16, 62, 123 and fig.68 showing less refined parallels
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