Kushite king, subsequently modified

This beautiful and vital figure is stylistically clearly assignable to the period of Kushite presence or influence. The rounded head with smooth front and flat rear profiles, small ears, narrow eyes, and assured smile are characteristic of images of Kushites, as is the full, powerful body.

It seems that the statue originally represented one of the Kushite kings. The leopard head at the top of the apron is an element of a royal accoutrement. However, the statue retains no traces of any royal headdress. Possibly loss of the gold cladding of the statue affected evidence for a headdress, or possibly a separate "cap" was added. The long cords hanging from the belt are associated with royal and priestly garments favored in the Kushite era.

Then, after the statue's creation, it was extensively altered, perhaps in more than one campaign: in addition to substantial changes that can be traced relative to the now-missing limbs and previously longer garment, the original rectangular panel at the front of the kilt was recut to have the form of a triangular apron with streamers on either side, an apron exclusively associated with royalty. The corroded surface, in its current condition, strongly suggests that these alterations were carried out in ancient times.

The modifications could be associated with mid-26th dynasty appropriation and modification of Kushite images, but other scenarios cannot be discounted.

Marsha Hill and Deborah Schorsch 2022

Incorporated in Curatorial Interpretation

Collection of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, France, by the 1960s. Purchased by the museum from Jean-Pierre Montesino, Paris, 2010, who notes that the original owner recalled to him that she had purchased the statuette in Egypt in 1940 from Phocion Tano.

Hill, Marsha 2012. "Statuette of a Kushite Priest, adapted for a King." In The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin: Recent Acquisitions, A Selection 2010-2012, 70 no. 2, p. 6 (earlier interpretation).

Schorsch, Deborah 2019. "Ritual Metal Statuary in Ancient Egypt: "A Long Life and a Great Good Age." In Statues in Context: Production, meaning and (re)uses, edited by Aurelia Masson-Berghoff. Leuven: Peeters, pp. 256–59, figs. 7–8a, b.