User:Tyrone Madera/sandbox/Statue of Mentuemhet

The statue of Mentuemhet (also known as the statue of Montuemhat), is a historical artifact and statue of the Egyptian ruler Mentuemhet. It lies in the Egyptian Museum, under the identifiers JE 336933 & CG 42236. This statue is from the Late Period of Ancient Egypt, and was commissioned by Mentuemhet (also spelled Montuemhet or Mentuemhat). It is a prototypical example of Egyptian archaism, and the Saïte style in particular.

Forms
The motifs of having arms affixed to the sides, staring forward, and standing straight with left leg forward are clearly expressed. The figure is male and shown in a very stiff and linear manner; there is little movement depicted. However, the position of the leg has been interpreted as walking/striding. Mentuemhet’s body is shown in a highly idealized and stylized manner, not in a manner that is realistic to how he actually would have looked, whereas the face of the statue is realistic. The hair is geometric in nature; the face is rounded, sullen, and stern; the mouth is wide; the eyes are narrow; the face has fleshy creases and a cleft chin; and the crown is flat. Both the costume and pose of the statue are only slightly different from the styles of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, with the statue depicting the subject wearing a shendyt, a kilt that represents royalty. The belt of the statue is decorated with the name of the subject enclosed in a cartouche, as well as the titles of its owner. The influence on daedalic depiction in archaic Greek statuary is evident.

Location
The statue is located in Cairo, at the Egyptian Museum, having the identifiers of CG 42236 (JE 36933). It was originally found in 1904 in the TT34 tomb in Karnak.

Creation
This statue is from the Late Period of Ancient Egypt, and was commissioned by Mentuemhet (also spelled Montuemhet or Mentuemhat). It was created c. 660 BCE. During the Saïte and Kushite dynasties of the Late Period, Archaism was very popular in Egyptian society and became resurgent and adopted widely throughout, sometimes in an eclectic way. This was in reaction to the Amarna period, under which Egyptian art and religion had experienced drastic changes. During this time there was an “Egyptian Renaissance” that led Egyptians to look back to their past in a revival of old and archaic artistic traditions and had a major impact on the art of the time. This work shows the fruits of much of that tradition in its iconography: the broad shoulders and strong torso, the archaic stance of having one foot forward, the archaic posture of having both arms to the sides, the use of a grid system, and the archaic cool and calm expression iconic to Old Kingdom Egypt are all evident.

Cultural context
Ancient Egyptian sculpture as a whole, with the exception of the Amarna Period, is highly consistent in its canon. A lot of this had to do with the Egyptian belief in the afterlife: if people weren’t portrayed in certain ways then their Ka, a person’s immortal human lifeforce, would not have everything they needed for life after death. However, there are some characteristics of the Saïte style, the style of the time of this statue, that differs from the Archaic style it harkens back to; there is an almost veristic style to the face and the statue appears as a “portrait” that contains distinctive qualities of Mentuemhet, and he appears wearing a “double wig” that was the style at the time. The statue is stylistic and individualistic and reflects heightened relevance of individualistic "portraits" during this period that had not been seen since the Amarna period. Statues in the Saïte style, such as this one, appeared with high-placed brows, high-placed almond-shaped eyes, and even an archaic smile just like a kouros would have.

Subject
Mentuemhet was a rich and powerful mayor and priest of Thebes and Governor of Upper Egypt who rebuilt the city after the Assyrians destroyed it. This is one of many statues he commissioned of himself that he put in the various Thebian temples, all of which were done in the style of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Mentuemhet’s power over Thebes likely is what inspired him to portray himself as a pharaoh, like he was king of Egypt—and in the case of Upper Egypt, he de facto was. The Egyptian kings needed to appear as both a ruler and a god and were charged with maintaining stability within the kingdom. Thus Egyptain kings were almost always portrayed as cool and calm, like the Nile, and so Mentuemhet adopted such a motif into his own portraiture. These elements touch on the historical, contextual, and formal components of this work.

Material and dimensions
The statue is made from granite. It is 137 cm tall, 36.5 cm wide, and 60 cm deep. However, without its plinth the statue is only 120 cm tall.