Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy

Middle Kingdom

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 110

This small, fine statuette of a boy is actually a stamp seal. The underside of its base is incised with the name and titles of the owner, Mentuhotep, enclosed by a border of linked S-scrolls. Nudity and a shaved head with a lock of hair were used to designate children; the gesture of the hand to the mouth may be a request for feeding. Such imagery carried connotations of vitality and the promise of future life.

Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy, Boxwood

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Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy, Boxwood
Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy, Boxwood
Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy, Boxwood
Stamp Seal in the Shape of a Boy, Boxwood

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