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Itj-ibj

Egyptian (Artist)
1976-1911 BCE (Middle Kingdom)
limestone with paint
(Ancient Egypt and Nubia )

Discovered in the ancient necropolis, or burial ground, in Asyut in 1913, the statue is inscribed on either side of the block-like seat with the offering texts for Itj-ibj, a minor official, represented with a shoulder-length head covering and wearing a shendyit, or pleated kilt. While early 12th Dynasty in style, this impressive seated statue shows Itj-ibj in a classic pose copied from Old Kingdom sculpture: hands balanced on his thighs, the left flat and the right clenched in a fist, holding a folded cloth.

Traces of red paint with white spots remain on the fleshy areas of the sculpture, and it has been suggested that the exposed parts of the body were painted to make the limestone resemble red granite, a more costly stone.

Inscription

[Translation] An offering which the king gives [to] Anubis, Lord of Re-qereret, who is in the embalmment place, Lord of the cemetary, that he may give a good burial by the Treasurer Djefay-hapy to Iti-ibi born of My. [An offering] which the king gives [to] Osiris, Lord of Busiris, the Great god, Lord of Abydos, on all his places, that he may give mortuary offerings of bread, beer, oxen and fowl, clothing, alabaster [to] the Revered Itj-[ibj].

Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Maurice Nahman, Cairo, by 1926, [mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1927, by purchase [Joseph Brummer as agent; Brummer inv. no. X303]; Walters Art Gallery, 1931, by bequest.

Conservation

Date Description Narrative
11/24/1998 Examination survey
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Geographies

Egypt, Asyut (Place of Origin)

Measurements

26 x 7 7/8 x 15 1/16 in. (66 x 20 x 38.3 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1927

Location in Museum

Centre Street: Second Floor: Egyptian Art

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

22.142

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