Monument of Sihathor
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This object is not part of The Met collection. It was in the Museum for a special exhibition and has been returned to the lender.
During a pilgrimage to the holy city of Abydos, an assistant treasurer named Sihathor commissioned this unusual monument composed of a stela with a niche containing a block statue. A new type of sculpture developed in the early Twelfth Dynasty, block statues show the owner in a long cloak, squatting on the ground with knees drawn up and arms crossed in a gesture of devotion. The body is reduced to a cubic form with projecting head and feet. The statue transformed the official into a permanent spectator of the ritual processions that honored the god Osiris in Abydos.
During a pilgrimage to the holy city of Abydos, an assistant treasurer named Sihathor commissioned this unusual monument composed of a stela with a niche containing a block statue. A new type of sculpture developed in the early Twelfth Dynasty, block statues show the owner in a long cloak, squatting on the ground with knees drawn up and arms crossed in a gesture of devotion. The body is reduced to a cubic form with projecting head and feet. The statue transformed the official into a permanent spectator of the ritual processions that honored the god Osiris in Abydos.
Artwork Details
- Title: Monument of Sihathor
- Period: Middle Kingdom
- Dynasty: Dynasty 12
- Date: ca. 1981-1802 B.C.
- Geography: From Egypt, Abydos
- Medium: Limestone
- Dimensions: stela: 44 7/8 × 25 3/16 × 7 1/16 in. (114 × 64 × 18 cm)
statue: 16 3/4 × 7 7/8 × 11 7/16 in. (42.5 × 20 × 29 cm) - Credit Line: The Trustees of the British Museum, London
- Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art