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Priest Teti with His Family

Anonymous (Egyptian)

ca. 1390 BC (New Kingdom)

carved granodiorite

21 5/8 x 13 3/4 x 7 5/16 in. (55 x 35 x 18.5 cm)

Description
Teti the priest was the principal owner of this group statue. In keeping with artistic conventions, he is placed in the center, larger than the two other figures, and receives their supportive gestures. The smaller man is Teti's father, also named Teti, while the woman is the elder Teti's wife, Meket. The reference to the god Ptah of ancient Memphis in the inscription on the front of the younger Teti's kilt suggests that the sculpture may have been dedicated in a temple there. This association with Memphis might also account for the statue's unusual pyramid-like shape, as a similarly shaped sacred monument, called the "benben," was worshiped in the region.
Additional Information

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1926

22.163

Centre Street: Second Floor: Egyptian Art

18th Dynasty

Thutmosis IV (1397-1388 BC)

Memphis, Egypt (?)


Provenance

Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1926, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

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