Egyptian Sandstone Male Head Sculptor's Model

Egypt, Late Dynastic to Ptolemaic Period, ca. 664 to 30 BCE. A lovely and sensitively modeled head of a youthful male carved from limestone that was used as a sculptor's model, perhaps to illustrate a priest or a scribe based on the shaved head. The head presents almond-shaped eyes with elongated exterior canthi, a slender nose with slightly flared nostrils, puffy cheeks, full lips with a delineated philtrum along the upper lip, ears shaped like half of a heart, and a faintly incised groove running low along the brow. The mottled cream-hued limestone has faint beige inclusions that create a depth of color that would otherwise go unnoticed. A hole drilled into the base of the neck accommodates a wooden peg used for mounting purposes. Size: 2.5" W x 4.1" H (6.4 cm x 10.4 cm); 7.7" H (19.6 cm) on included custom stand.

A carved head like this example may have served as a model for a larger sculpture, to teach apprentice sculptors how to replicate a master style, or to produce ushabti figures (small funerary statues for tombs). Though sculptors' models are typically difficult to date - with some being from the Amarna period of the 18th Dynasty when new forms of statuary came in - most known examples are from the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic periods. The Egyptians were keen observers of fauna, with many different animals gracing their mythology, artwork, and hieroglyphs; however, anthropomorphic models were typically among the most challenging to carve accurately.

While sculptors' models appear to be from larger composite figures, their incomplete presentation could be an entirely separate item typology. Ancient Greek sculptural incompleteness was a generic form of presentation as the viewer could extrapolate who or what a sculpture was meant to represent. In contrast, the ancient Egyptians would view an incomplete votive work of art only as it was: part of a bird, a disembodied head, or in one instance the hind quarters of a lion. According to Eric Young of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "When we consider the Egyptian pieces as sculptors' models, however, their incompleteness is no longer disturbing, but entirely understandable. As is the case with unquestioned sculptors' models...the apprentice sculptor concentrated his energies on those portions of the figure that he found intriguing, or most difficult, and the master sculptor demonstrated the correct way to delineate a head…" ("Sculptors' Models or Votives? In Defense of a Scholarly Tradition." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, March 1964, p. 255).

Provenance: private Corpus Christi, Texas, USA estate collection, acquired 1960s to 1970s

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#165089
Condition Report: This is perhaps a fragment of a larger sculptor's model, however it could also be its own standalone model. Minor nicks and pitting to some surfaces, with chips to neckline, otherwise intact and excellent. Light earthen deposits throughout, and great preservation to facial details. Drilled through base of neck with inserted wooden peg for display purposes.