Dynasty Twelve

Amenemhet I

Thebes remained the center of power until the next dynasty, when it is widely believed that the vizier of the previous king became the first king of Dynasty Twelve, Amenemhet I (Grajetzki 2006: 26, 28). Internal troubles may have forced him to move the capital north to virgin territory on the border between Upper and Lower

Egypt, close to the mouth of the Fayum (Grajetzki 2006: 30). There, outside the modern village of Lisht, Amenemhet I constructed his funerary complex. Most of the work likely took place under his son and successor Senwosret I, since blocks built into its foundation contain the names of both kings (Grajetzki 2006: 26). The earliest year-date attested at the site is Year 20 (Arnold 1991a: 18-20; Callender 2000: 159), the first of ten years when the two may have ruled jointly (Arnold 1991: 42, note 47; Callender 2000: 160).

Although Amenemhet I ruled for three decades, remarkably little material is dated to his time, perhaps because the king’s efforts were focused on quelling internal turmoil. At his funerary temple it is understandably difficult to isolate his work from that of his son. Fragments of royal sculpture and relief have been found as far south as Armant, as far east as Sinai, and as far north as the Delta (Grajetzki 2006: 32). To date, the only two well-preserved statues of the king were found at the Delta sites of Tanis and Khatana (Arnold 1991: 30). Both feature a seated king with well-defined musculature and body proportions conforming to the Old Kingdom canon. In contrast, the head and facial features show a closer affinity to the Theban-area Eleventh Dynasty material, particularly in the way the facial planes lack modeling. Thick straight eyebrows extend from the bridge of the nose toward the temples. An equally prominent cosmetic line parallels the brows and accentuates the large, flat eyes. Folds of flesh mark the corners of the nostrils, and the lips are either straight or drawn up into a smile. One of the statues is 2.68 m high, and the other is approximately life-size (Aldred 1970: fig. 13).

As earlier, sculpture and relief of the king’s officials follow the royal model (Freed 1981: 71ff.), and also consciously copy Old Kingdom examples. Ihy and Hetep were priests who served the cults of both Tety of Dynasty Six and Amenemhet I at Saqqara (Silverman 2000: 260ff.). Carved in low flat raised relief like the king’s, offering bearers carry little and are so widely spaced that they read more as individual figures than processions. Clever details, such as the carrying of two animals or birds bound together in a basket or the use ofraised and sunk reliefin the same composition occur only in the Old Kingdom tombs in the immediate vicinity and demonstrate conscious copying (Freed 2000: 212). The fact that these two men were also priests of Tety, a king who had ruled approximately 500 years earlier, further demonstrates the desire to establish continuity with the past and recapture its ideals.

Another detail characteristic of reliefs and stelae of Amenemhet I’s reign is the careful balancing of food offerings under, beside, and sometimes atop the main offering table in an offering scene to the extent that at times, the integrity of the individual food is sacrificed in favor of overall balance or organization (Freed 1981: 72, 75). The uniformity of style and iconographic details throughout the country, perhaps transmitted by artists accompanying administrators sent by the king (Gra-jetzki 2006: 32), caused the disappearance of the regional styles so prominent in the First Intermediate Period.

In addition to being accomplished copyists, artists from the reign of Amenemhet I were also innovative. The tombs of the two Saqqara officials mentioned above contained a new type of statuary depicting the owner seated on the ground with his legs drawn up close to his body and his hands crossed over his knees. Because the shape resembles a cube, this statue type, which continued into the Late period, is generally called a block or cube statue (Schulz 1992). It may represent a man seated in a carrying chair (Aldred 1950: 43-4; Leclant 1978: 234, fig. 225), a translation into three dimensions of relief representations abundant in nearby Old Kingdom tomb chapels. Later this statue type became more abstracted and took on other meanings (Eggebrecht 1966: 143-63). It is noteworthy that the facial features of Hetep’s two block statues (Ihy’s are poorly preserved) resemble those of Amenemhet I himself.

Senwosret I

In contrast to his father and predecessor Senwosret I’s building activity was prolific and extended beyond Egypt’s borders (Callender 2000: 161). From Elephantine to the Delta, temples and statues bear his name (Grajetzki 2006: 37ff., esp. 41). The goal of just one of his numerous and far-flung quarrying expeditions was to retrieve sufficient stone to carve 150 statues and 60 sphinxes (Seyfried 1981: 250; Simpson 1984: col. 892; Callender 2000: 161). Many statues of Senwosret I are over life-size, making him the first monarch since the Old Kingdom to commission multiple sculptures on a colossal scale. Many of these sculptures were reinscribed and recarved by Egypt’s great builder Ramesses II of Dynasty Nineteen, so that Senwosret I deserves even more recognition for his building activities than previously realized (Sourouzian 1988: 229-54).

Senwosret I was the first king to build extensively at Karnak; a sphinx and several colossal statues and statue fragments bear his name (Evers 1929: pls. 33-5; Sourouzian 2005: 109, pl. 11). Given the presence of the many statues of Mentuhotep II at Deir el - Bahri, across the river and toward which Karnak was oriented, it is not surprising that these statues continue the Eleventh Dynasty style. Like the statuary of Amenemhet I, they share broad rectangular faces with high cheekbones, large, flat eyes with thick straight brows and cosmetic lines, and unsmiling mouths. Senwosret I’s body, with its well-defined pectorals, small waist, abdominal muscles, depressed navel, and median line extending upward from it shows a mastery of anatomical detail not seen since the Old Kingdom. This sculptural style is not restricted to Karnak but may be seen on statues of the king found at Memphis (Evers 1929: pl. 45), Tanis (Evers 1929: pls. 37-8), and Alexandria (Evers 1929: pl. 36; 1929: 97-7), with the latter two likely to have been brought from elsewhere.

Senwosret I ruled for forty-five years, and some of his many sculptures differ in style from the ones described above, but because none include a year date, it is not clear if the style changed over time or with its function. It is likely that Senwosret I commissioned sculpture for his jubilee festival, the first of which he celebrated in his thirty-first year of rule. Karnak, Abydos, and Lisht all featured Osirid statues of Senwosret I in an Osirid pose usually associated with the jubilee (Arnold 2003: 228). In its massive breadth and lack of modeling in the mid-torso, an example from Abydos (Evers 1929: pl. 35B) is closest to the statues of Mentuhotep II, although the facial features are similar to those described above. An example from Karnak is more refined. The torso is slender and elongated, while the head has been transformed from a geometric exercise to a naturalistic composition, conceived as a whole rather than a combination of unrelated parts. The face is oval, rather than square, and eyes are cut deeply into it so that the brows overhang them. More delicate lines replace the earlier pronounced brow and cosmetic bands. The face is marked by high cheekbones and a firm chin. Lips taper at the corners and are cut more deeply into the facial surface. The additional modeling gives the face more character.

In a group of over thirty sculptures from the king’s funerary temple at Lisht, the latest of which are Osirid pillars from the causeway (Arnold 2003: 214), the slender form of the Karnak Osirid statue is repeated, but the face has an even more human quality, largely because of smoother, somewhat less angular modeling of the surface and facial features. The almond-shaped eyes are smaller, the cheekbones less pronounced, and the corners of the lips taper gently into the face, creating the appearance of a slight smile. The folds of flesh at the nostrils and corners of the mouth have been replaced by a more modulated surface. The funerary temple group also includes ten over life-size, seated statues of the king found ritually buried in the temple’s courtyard which exhibit an overall cold, formal quality. Nowhere is the Middle Kingdom attempt to emulate the Old Kingdom clearer than in the Lisht funerary temple sculptures. Though they may demonstrate superficial mastery of the Old Kingdom style, particularly in their attempt to reproduce the ideal body, they lack the inner strength and nobility of spirit that are the hallmarks of the Pyramid Age.

While the sculptures of Senwosret I show an array of styles, reliefs from his many monuments are more homogeneous. Because the refurbishment of temples to local gods was part of his consolidation of power (Callender 2000: 162), he must have deployed artists from the Residence who carved the king’s likeness with relative uniformity from the Satet Temple in Elephantine in the south to his funerary temple at Lisht in the north. Raised reliefs are higher than in the previous reign and display more incised detailing and greater surface modeling (Wildung 1984a: 76-7), making the entire composition more harmonious. The same spirit is evident in sunk-relief representations, where a deep outline provides greater depth in the working surface. Even in the most formal of the royal reliefs, there is an animation and character strength that demonstrates artists have gone beyond copying and have truly mastered the medium. In many respects, there are no finer reliefs than those of Senwosret I (figure 39.6). Internal stability, the use of sculpture and architecture as propaganda, and royal patronage contributed to this flowering.

With the increase in royal building activity, private arts also flourished as highly placed administrators commissioned elaborate funerary monuments, perhaps from the king’s own sculptors. The nomarch Sarenput I erected his tomb at Qubbet el-Hawwa across from Aswan, Egypt’s southern border. Finely carved limestone door-jambs at the entryway to the open court feature a seated image of the tomb owner that forms a sharp contrast to the images carved on the rock-cut facade of the tomb. The former, presumably a product of the royal school, are precisely carved and canonically correct, while the latter, which must have been done by local artists, exhibit figures with small heads, high waists, attenuated torsos, and elongated legs that are more reminiscent of a the pre-reunification Eleventh Dynasty.

Although Senwosret I patronized local cults in many cities, Abydos, the place where Osiris was buried and reborn, achieved special prominence. Taking part in

Figure 39.6 New York, MMA 14.3.6. Relief of Senwosret I, Dynasty 12, limestone. From Lisht. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1914.

The god’s annual festival of resurrection was thought to guarantee the same for the attendee, a privilege now available to high officials as well as the king. Statues and stelae were erected as proxies for those unable to attend. Although a few of these monuments are earlier than Senwosret I, during his reign the custom became more widespread. Close to forty private stelae are dated or datable to the reign of Senwosret I (Simpson 1974a: 26-7). The finest among them (Hayes 1953: 298-9), like the king’s funerary temple reliefs, feature high and beautifully modeled raised relief and canonically correct figures organized in a pleasing composition.

The rich variety in royal statuary from Senwosret I’s reign is also seen in the private realm. The statue of the Overseer of Chamberlains Antef (Simpson 1974a: pl. 13) is reminiscent of the more angular, awkward style of Senwosret I. Concentric scallops on his chest are probably meant as rolls of fat, based on what is shown on stelae of the same man (Simpson 1974a: pl. 12), but, because his torso is so thin, they look more like ribs, making him look gaunt instead. In contrast, it is clear from his statues that the vizier Mentuhotep, the highest private official in the country, was fat (Delange 1987: 57-8). He sits either cross-legged with a scroll on his lap or with one knee up, and this pose emphasizes his swollen breasts, rolls of flesh and an abundant abdomen that forces his navel into a horizontal shape. Mentuhotep’s statues were found at Karnak - the first time private statuary clearly appears in temple contexts (Vandier 1958: 226). Just like the king he first served, the power and influence of Mentuhotep was widespread. He is credited with oversight of building activity at both Abydos and Karnak (Grajetzki 2006: 40, 44), and stelae bearing his name were found at Saqqara and Abydos. His burial was at Lisht.

Figure 39.7 Boston, MFA 14.720. Statue of Lady Sennuwy, Dynasty 12, granodiorite. From Nubia (Sudan), Kerma. Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photograph © 2010 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The first known over-life-size statue of a woman since the end of the Old Kingdom is Sennuwy (figure 39.7), wife of Djefaihap, nomarch of Assiut during the reign of Senwosret I. He is most famous for his large decorated tomb, a gift from the king (Kahl 2007: 88ff.). The tomb was robbed in antiquity, but fragments of an approximately half life-size statue of the nomarch and the well-preserved statue of his wife were discovered in the tomb of a Nubian chieftain buried in Kerma, Sudan, probably during Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period. Sennuwy’s statue, with its well-formed body and sweet, placid face supports Djefaihap’s claim of royal patronage. It compares well with sculptures of the king from the Residence, although the artist’s lack of familiarity in representing a large-scale female form is evident. In comparison to Old Kingdom models, her breasts are large and her loose garment hides the sensuality of her body. In addition to Assiut and Qubbet el-Hawwa, Meir, Beni Hasan, and el-Bersha all feature large painted or relief-decorated tombs of officials of early Dynasty Twelve, bearing testimony to the continued importance of local rulers. Each differs in style and subject matter, but, for the most part, they display the influence of a reunified Egypt, where artists had access to material outside their local areas.

Senwosret I died after 45 years of rule, leaving behind him a stable and prosperous country where new or renovated temples to local gods bore his name. By the end of his reign, artists who worked for the king and his high officials had succeeded completely in their quest to reclaim the artistic legacy of the Old Kingdom. In relief work, on the basis of style alone, at times it can be difficult to distinguish between the two. Sculpture, on the other hand, clearly copies Old Kingdom forms but never achieves its inner character strength.

Amenemhet II

Amenemhet II succeeded Senwosret I and is thought to have been his son. Despite his 35 years of rule, and in stark contrast to his father, remarkably little royal material is unquestionably dated to his reign (Fay 1996: 7, 38ff.), even though inscriptions mention his building activity (Grajetzki 2006: 46-7). The only well-preserved dated royal sculpture is one of a pair of colossal sphinxes from Tanis, now in the Louvre (Fay 1996: 11, 15). Its broad face and the unmodeled expanse of cheeks contributes to its massiveness. Facial features include arched eyes with nearly horizontal rims continuing in a wide cosmetic line, thick brows that parallel the eyes and cosmetic lines, a broad nose with vertical depressions extending from the outer edge of the nostrils to the corners of the mouth (nasolabial folds), a philtrum, and straight lips highlighted by a thin raised line (vermillion line). Although much smaller, the bust of a king in Boston (figure 39.8) has all of Amenemhet Il’s hallmarks and may be attributed to him as well (Fay 1996: 32ff.). The harsh, almost brutal quality of these sculptures bears no relation to the sweet idealized faces from the end of Senwosret I’s reign. Rather, they show the beginning of a trend toward the maturity and character that would further develop in later reigns.

Amenemhet II was buried at Dahshur in a pyramid which awaits further exploration (Callender 2000: 164). From that site and several others, the few existing fragments of royal relief (Fay 1996: 39ff.) are of little value for art-historical analysis. This is particularly unfortunate, since the tomb chapel of Siese, one of Amenemhet II’s viziers who was buried near him (Simpson 1988: 57ff., pls. 14-5) demonstrates the outstanding quality of relief work artists must have produced for the king as well. The angular shape of Siese’s head and its arrogant tilt, the pronounced fold of flesh at the nostril, a pouting lower lip, double chin, and thick neck leave no doubt that this image is a true portrait. As such it is one of very few relief portraits from any era in Egyptian history. What it shares with the precious few fragments of royal relief is a relatively high but flat surface and a forced, artificial organization of offerings.

Conservative fashions of earlier reigns give way to more elaborate ones. Often garments are longer or even layered atop one another, perhaps implying a period of colder weather. On one wall of the tomb chapel of the Nomarch Ukhhotep at Meir, his chief of overseers wears a high-waisted, wrapped garment with a fringed upper border (Blackman 1915: pl. 14), while on another wall Ukhhotep sports an elegant pleated mantle (Blackman 1915: pls. 18, 35). New styles would both continue and become more elaborate through the end of the Middle Kingdom.

Private stelae from Abydos provide the greatest body of material dated to Amenemhet II’s reign (Simpson, 1974a: 27-8). This continues the trend begun in his father’s reign and bears testimony to what is often called the democratization of religion. The demand for monuments was met by an Abydene school of artists who produced many similar but undistinguished works. Most are in sunk relief, which

Figure 39.8 Boston, MFA 29.1132. Amenemhet II, Dynasty 12, granodiorite. From Nubia (Sudan), Semna; Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition. Photograph © 2010 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Generally requires less skill to execute than raised relief. Thin, elongated figures of family members stand stiffly in registers facing the dedicant, who is usually seated at an offering table, now devoid of the rich variety of goods seen previously. It represents the beginning of mass production of such monuments, with the expected shortcuts and reduction to the most basic elements. Although the same artists’ hands may be identified on many of them, in no instance is the artist identified (Freed 1996: 324ff.).

Sahathor left a stela with a niche containing a block statue at Abydos (Russmann 2001: 96-7). Although the statue’s facial features are idealized, the rectangular shape of the face gives it a stern quality reminiscent of the Amenemhet II sphinx. The wig and body, like the figures on Abydene stelae of Amenemhet II’s reign, have been abstracted to essentials. The wig bears no decoration but echoes the smooth line of the body, where an enveloping garment barely reveals the human form.

Although it is not specifically dated, the style of the splendid seated statue of Sehetepibreankh suggests that it too was made during the reign of Amenemhet II (Hayes 1953: fig. 125). It was found at Lisht, which continued to be used for burial throughout the Middle Kingdom, despite the location of royal burials elsewhere after Senwosret I’s reign. Sehetepibreankh’s broad, unmodeled face, large eyes with arched upper lids and straight lower lids, naturalistically curved brow, depression at the bridge of the nose, and thick lips meeting in a straight line echo the Louvre sphinx. His wig, which envelops his shoulders and tapers to points above his breasts represents a new fashion of the time, and may subtly mimic the royal nemes headcloth. It is masterfully rendered with modeled waves and incised individual curls carefully tied off at the forehead and lower edge. Sehetepibreankh’s solid, muscular body is more naturalistically sculpted than in the previous reign.

Senwosret II

Although he ruled for a relatively short time (8-9 years) (Grajetzki 2006: 48), Senwosret Il’s reign was one of the most artistically and culturally innovative. The trend toward individuality begun in the reign of his father blossomed, thanks to continued economic prosperity, internal stability, exploration of new areas within Egypt and an increased contact with surrounding countries. Unfortunately at least three colossal images of Senwosret II were altered almost beyond recognition by the great usurper, Ramesses II in Dynasty Nineteen, and then taken to Tanis by Dynasty Twenty-two. Karnak, Medamud, and Memphis yielded other statues of Senwosret II. No sculpture and but a few fragments of relatively low, flat raised relief were found in his funerary complex at Lahun, located near the entrance to the Fayum (Petrie et al. 1923: pls. 16-19).

The few surviving images of Senwosret II demonstrate that the movement away from youthful idealization toward more psychologically powerful images of power, maturity, and character already suggested under Amenemhet II continued in earnest under the reign of Senwosret II. A bust from a seated statue of the king said to be from Memphis (figure 39.9) presents a more realistic appearance than previously seen in Middle Kingdom sculpture (Simpson 1984: col. 900, 902, note 13). Large features filling most of the facial surface impart a new immediacy. Almond-shaped eyes depressed under strong overhanging brows leave little space for the forehead. The brows continue in an unbroken curve into the bridge of the nose. Narrow at the top, the nose broadens into nostrils whose width nearly matches that of the mouth. The lips meet in a straight line, but the upper lip is narrow and straight throughout while the lower is full in the middle but tapers at the corners, making the king appear to pout. Pronounced cheekbones and receding cheeks draw attention to nasolabial furrows. Ears pushed artificially forward by the nemes draw even more attention to the face. Regardless of whether it represents a true portrait, the result is a more lifelike image than previously seen on royal sculpture.

A detail on the Copenhagen Senwosret II that may reflect both the prosperity and internationalism of the times is the double-lobed pendant on a beaded chain the king wears on his muscular, idealized torso. Mining operations around this time produced and exploited such exotic and colorful stones as amethyst, turquoise, anhydrite, obsidian, and carnelian, all of which are incorporated into exquisite and complex jewelry and cosmetic vessels found in tombs associated with the pyramids of Senwosret II and his father. It is the first time a king is shown with this type ofnecklace.

The prominence of sculptures of royal women is another noteworthy aspect of Senwosret II’s reign. Two over life-size images of one of his queens, Nofret, found in Tanis (Evers, 1929: pls. 72-5) exhibit a facial shape and features strikingly similar to

Figure 39.9 Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek AEIN 659. Head and upper body of Senwosret II, Dynasty 12, granite. From Mitrahina. Photography Ole Haupt. Courtesy The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

The Copenhagen king. The queen’s wig is most voluminous behind her large ears and pushes them forward, giving her even greater presence. The wig is tripartite, with the front lappets tapering just above her breasts and curling around what appear to be discs, a style reminiscent of what is worn by the great goddess Hathor, and accordingly referred to as a ‘‘Hathoric wig.’’ Another of Senwosret Il’s wives, Weret who bears the title ‘‘Great Royal Wife’’ in her statue in the Louvre (Ziegler 2001) has a rounder face but comparable eyes. The similar form of the eyes leads to the identification of a queen in Boston as Weret (Freed, Berman, and Doxey 2003: 128). Narrow shoulders and the angle of the neck break on the Boston sculpture suggest it came from a sphinx, the ultimate symbol of power in Egypt and befitting a Great Royal Wife. A sphinx representing a daughter of Amenemhet II was found in the Levant (Fay 1996: 44-5, pls. 58-60), where it may have been sent as a diplomatic gift or a reminder of Egyptian power. Its style leaves no doubt that it was made in Egypt.

Private sculpture is also innovative during Senwosret II’s reign. Although not specifically dated, the nurse Satsneferu’s mature face, low forehead, drooping lower lip, and cheeks made to appear wider by prominent ears are all hallmarks of the reign of Senwosret II (Hayes 1953: fig. 132). She squats with her feet demurely to her right side and places her left hand on her right breast as a sign of respect. She wears a long

Fringed mantle draped over her left shoulder. Later in the dynasty, statues of men, both seated and standing, wear an enveloping cloak draped over both shoulders. Ukhhotep wears a three-quarter-length wrapped kilt secured above his waist in each of two statues from his tomb at Meir (Terrace and Fischer 1970: 81-4; Freed, Berman and Doxey 2003: 129), and he stands between two wives, a rare situation which might be interpreted as polygamy (Simpson 1974b: 100-5). Both wives, like the king’s wife Nofret, wear the Hathoric wigs. A daughter stands between Ukhhotep’s feet in the Boston statue in a clever way of providing symmetry to the statue group. (On the Cairo statue, she stands to Ukhhotep’s left.). As an adolescent, the daughter is clothed on both statues but still has youthful sidelocks which take the form of a ponytail on each side of her head, another unique and creative manner of maintaining symmetry.

Ukhhotep was one of a number of regional governors (nomarchs) from families who continued to enjoy prestige, power, and perhaps royal favor in their home areas and were buried there. The Nomarch Djehutyhotep from el-Bersha had the largest tomb at that site, and it was richly decorated in low, flat raised relief in a style similar to Senwosret Il’s. El-Bersha is located in an area rich in fine limestone as well as alabaster. Accordingly it is not surprising to find 172 men dragging a colossal alabaster statue of what may have been the nomarch himself (Newberry 1893: 24), providing a sense of the power and wealth of the nomarchs and the magnitude of building projects they undertook in their homelands.

Nomarchs also continued to build their tombs at Qubbet el-Hawwa to the west of Aswan, Egypt’s southern border. Unlike earlier in the dynasty, when Sarenput I’s tomb chapel reliefs (apart from the door-jambs) displayed the mark of a local hand, the style of both painting and sculpture in Sarenput Il’s tomb is now not only uniform throughout but also echoes what is found elsewhere in Egypt at the same time, if not earlier. This nomarch began his career in the fourth Regnal Year of Senwosret II and continued until at least the eighth year of his successor, Senwosret III (Habachi 1985: 46). Osirid statues, % in the round, which line the tomb’s corridor, bear plain, unlined but serious faces that are more similar to those of the reign of Amenemhet II than Senwosret II. B. Fay has identified a statue of Sarenput II that also displays the style of Amenemhet II’s reign and suggests it came from his tomb (Fay 1997: 100).

A shrine dedicated to an important local official named Hekayib was located on Elephantine Island opposite Qubbet el-Hawwa. Although he lived in the late Old Kingdom, his worship as a local saint continued throughout the Middle Kingdom, and some of the period’s finest private sculptures come from there. Sarenput II commissioned two statues for the shrine, one for his father Khema, who lived under Amenemhet II, and another for himself (Habachi 1985: 43-4, pls. 39-45). The father’s serious but youthful face and muscular torso resemble sculptures of the time of Amenemhet II. Sarenput II’s own statue, presumably made at the same time or shortly after, is in an entirely different style (Habachi 1985: 42, pls. 30-7). His eyes are more naturalistic and three-dimensional in shape and are highlighted by sharply delineated brows and cosmetic lines. Pouches under the eyes and short but pronounced nasolabial furrows, hallmarks of Senwosret II’s reign, further distinguish the two statues. Like the monarch under whom he served most of his life, Sarenput II

Figure 39.10 New York, MMA 17.9.2. Sphinx with head of Senwosret III, Dynasty 12, granite. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1917.

Wears a beaded chain with a pierced, double-lobed amulet. The statues of Khema and Sarenput II are both masterpieces, and together they demonstrate that artists understood and adapted to the changes that ultimately accompanied each new reign.

Senwosret III

Senwosret III, the son and successor of Senwosret II, ruled for at least nineteen years but more likely nearly forty, according to recent discoveries (Wegner 1996: 3ff.). Sculpture and relief made for the king and his highest administrators followed the Twelfth Dynasty’s trend toward advanced age, maturity, wisdom, and the ability to elicit character in sculptures made from hard stones. Sculptors produced royal and private monuments that were both numerous and superbly crafted. One author counted 68 statues and statue fragments of the king himself, many colossal in scale that were found throughout Egypt, as well as in Nubia and Sinai (Polz 1995: 234, 237). Karnak, Deir el-Bahri, and Medamud have thus far yielded his most impressive examples.

Nowhere is the divine power of kingship better expressed than in the diorite sphinx of Senwosret III, thought to originate from Karnak (figure 39.10). Even without his name inscribed on its mane, his distinctive face would identify him. The iconography of age, wisdom, and character strength hinted at during the reign Senwosret II is now overt, even to the point of exaggeration. Hooded eyes protrude outward from sunken sockets, which are further emphasized by pronounced pouches beneath, and parallel sets of diagonal grooves extend from the inner corners of the eyes to the cheeks, from the nostrils to the corners of a tight-lipped, frowning mouth and from the corners of the mouth to the chin. As in the previous reign, over-large ears are pushed outward by the nemes headdress. The taut modeling of the lion body, further enhanced by the variegated stone, meld beast and man together into a creature worthy of reverence - if not fear.

At Deir el-Bahri, powerful, over life-size images of Senwosret III carved from black granite stood between columns of the colonnade. Six remain; two are headless. In all the king wears a three-quarter length pleated skirt with a projecting triangular frontal element. His hands lie flat on the front of his kilt in what is often called a gesture of reverence (Russmann 2000: 102-3). This is the first time the king is depicted in this manner. The volume provided by the projecting kilt and hands give the sculptures a strong presence, and this is further enhanced by the king’s facial features. In addition to the traits described above, they also have deep grooves on the forehead that arch upward from the bridge of the nose. Illuminated by sunlight raking over them, these sculptures surely attracted attention and garnered respect.

By placing images of himself at the funerary temple of the Middle Kingdom’s founder, Mentuhotep II, Senwosret III identified himself with his illustrious predecessor. This would have served as powerful propaganda for the populace. Many have speculated upon what additional message the king wished to convey with his aged, haggard, yet stern face, not only at Deir el-Bahri, but also elsewhere. Suggestions include the king’s desire to elicit fear, reveal the awesome divinity of kingship, show reverence to the god in whose temple his statues were erected, or demonstrate concern for the country and its people, as contemporary literature suggests. All are possibilities.

Out of the four Deir el-Bahri statues with heads, two appear younger because their faces are not as deeply furrowed (Vandier 1958: 186). A group of at least twenty seated statues of granite as well as a number of sphinxes from the nearby Montu temple at Medamud (Vandier 1958: 184) exhibit a full range of facial modeling, suggesting the artist deliberately intended to show the king at various stages of life, from youth to extreme age (Vandier 1958: 184-6). The variations are particularly noticeable in the three-dimensionality of the eyes and the depth of the furrows of the cheeks and chin. In all cases, whether youthful or aged, the body displays the idealized muscular form of a man in his prime. As a group of statues in a similar pose found in the same location, not only are they unparalleled in their variety, but also they show the ability of the artists to make hard stone come alive.

The difference between youth and age is also evident in reliefs from the same site. One striking example may be found on a lintel where Senwosret III with an unmodeled face offers to the falcon-headed local god Montu on the left half, and in a mirror image the king with a furrowed face and hooded eye offers to the falconheaded Horus, god of kingship, on the right. A second lintel from Medamud showing the king in his jubilee garment was copied detail for detail, howbeit less skilfully in the next dynasty (see below) (Cottevielle-Giraudet 1931: 7, pls. 1, 5).

Ongoing excavations at his pyramid complex at Dahshur and Abydos, where Senwosret III was buried, are continuing to yield more material. Reliefs of the king

Figure 39.11 Boston, MFA 2003.244. Josephson Head. late Dynasty 12, quartzite. Possibly from Memphis. Partial Gift of Magda Saleh and Jack A. Josephson and Museum purchase. Photograph © 2010 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Found at both (from Dahshur: Wildung 1984a: 176, fig. 151; from Abydos: Wegner 1995: 66), share with the Medamud material a sophistication of modeling of both main figures and raised relief hieroglyphs, ranking them among the finest reliefs Egyptian artists ever produced.

The reign of Senwosret III was also a time when sculptures and reliefs of important non-royal officials exhibited the same quality as the royal material. A quartzite head of a nobleman in Boston known as the ‘‘Josephson Head’’ (figure 39.11) is carved with such sensitivity that its hard stone reads as flesh. Although the nobleman’s facial features are similar to those of the king he served, details like the bump just below the bridge of his nose and his finely chiseled cheeks set him apart. Surely one of Senwosret Ill’s own sculptors must have carved the Josephson Head, perhaps in the Theban area in view of its similarity to the Medamud material. The statue of Hekayib (Habachi 1985: 48-9, esp. note 2, pls. 50-6) from the shrine of his namesake on Elephantine is another superb sculpture of the time. While Hekayib’s face bears the beautifully sculpted features of Senwosret III, his fleshy, almost feminine breasts carry through the image of an elder in a way not seen on any Middle Kingdom royal sculpture.

The reign of Senwosret III is also a time when the number of smaller scale sculptures and reliefs of officials of lower rank increases dramatically, particularly at Abydos, where many private stelae bearing the king’s name have been found

Figure 39.12 Paris, Louvre N 464. Statue of Amenemhet III, Dynasty 12, greywacke. © Musee du Louvre/Georges Poncet.

(Simpson 1974a: 28). They exhibit the same dichotomy as contemporary private sculpture. Some are innovative in their form and skilled in their execution (Simpson 1974a: pl. 2, upper left) while others show large numbers of family members and co-workers carved in rote, cookie-cutter fashion and arranged in repetitive rows or framed in rectangles (Simpson 1974a: pl. 3, upper left).

Amenemhet III

The reign of Amenemhet III, which lasted at least 46 years, including a coregency of up to 19 years with his father, was the longest of the dynasty. Given the number and quality of works produced under Senwosret III, it is not surprising that superb sculptural achievements continued. Amenemhet III is represented in at least 70 sculptures (Franke 1995: 745), and his quarrying activity was greater than that of any king before him (Leprohon 1980: 217, 272, note 175).

In most instances, images of Amenemhet III are easily distinguishable from those of his father. Senwosret III’s hooded eyes and deep diagonal furrows are less pronounced and, instead, a jutting chin and pouting mouth, often including a protruding lower lip becomes the focus (figure 39.12). As before, images vary from youthful and idealized (Evers 1929, pls. 102-3) to more mature (figure 39.13). While the younger image has more of the appearance of a spoiled adolescent, the latter projects

Figure 39.13 Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek AEIN 924. Head of Amenemhet III, Dynasty 12, greywacke. Quft. Photograph Ole Haupt. Courtesy The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

A haughty confidence. The consummate skill of the artists is beautifully expressed in masterpiece after masterpiece of royal sculpture.

Amenemhet III focused on internal development rather than foreign affairs (Leprohon 1980: 333ff.). With ample resources available, artists produced numerous colossal images of the king which surely sent a powerful message to the populace. A pair of seated statues of the king must have formed an awesome pair outside the temple to Bastet at Bubastis, where they served as intermediaries between the populace and the divinity at home inside the temple. The head alone is over 0.76 m high (Russmann 2000: 106-7). Two seated statues of the king made of quartzite once presided over the banks of Lake Moeris at Biahmu in the Fayum. Although today only their pedestals remain, fragments found nearby suggest statue and pedestal together measured over 18 m in height (Freed 2002a: 111). At the time they were made, they were Egypt’s tallest free-standing statues and surely served as the models for Amenhotep III’s Memnon colossi at Thebes. Variety also distinguishes the sculpture of Amenemhet III. The dress, pose, and attributes of some sculpture are traditional, but other images display a creativity unsurpassed by any previous monarch. Good examples are the many sphinxes from the Delta. While some are the sleek animals of earlier (Freed 2002a), others, through a leonine mane framing the face, perfectly meld man and beast (Saleh and Sourouzian 1987: no 102). The surrealistic image is carried through to the torso, with rippling muscles enhanced by stylized grooves imitating hair.

Most likely Amenemhet III used the Step Pyramid precinct of Djoser of Dynasty Three as a model for his funerary complex at Hawara (Callender 2000: 169-70). His interest in Egypt’s antiquity explains why a number of his statues from the Fayum oasis, an area upon which he focused extensively, wear long ringlets and full beards known only from Egypt’s first few dynasties (Freed 2002a: 115-17). Further, on one of these statues (Saleh and Sourouzian 1987: no. 103) he wears the accoutrements of a High Priest, including a leopard skin, a menat necklace, and standards bearing divine heads. While the king’s role as High Priest may have been understood, this is the first time a king is specifically shown in this role.

The Tanis statue of Amenemhet III shows him in another unique and creative manner. In this pair statue, he - perhaps shown twice, or with his double (ka), or possibly his coregent - is depicted as a bearer of offerings. His outstretched arms present fish, ducks, and lotuses to the gods similar to the way the king’s personified estates do in relief beginning in Dynasty Four (Smith 1981: 76-7). The back of the statue provides another insight into how artists strayed from tradition to accommodate new ways of expressing age-old concepts. Representing a standing male statue with his left foot forward was one of the cannons of Egyptian art seldom broken. However, here the offering statue on the proper left is depicted with an extended right foot, thereby creating symmetry and providing balanced surfaces for offerings.

The creativity in pose, composition, and attributes extended into the private sphere as well, as exemplified by the now twin - but once triple - statue of the Memphite High Priests Sehetepibreankhnedjem and his son Nebpu (figure 39.14). They share a common base and back slab, as well as a continuous triangular kilt which extends directly outward from the back slab, creating the impression that the statue is as much a relief as a three-dimensional work made for placement inside a temple niche (Delange 1987: 82). Their conjoined skirt is innovative, but its projecting triangular shape and the arm placement resemble what first appears on statuary of Senwosret III. It may have been usurped from the royal sphere. According to the inscription, Nebpu commissioned this statue for his father, whose facial features exhibit the deeply hooded eyes and diagonal furrows of Senwosret III, while those of Nebpu emphasize the pouting mouth of Amenemhet III. This, as in the statues of Sarenput I and his son Khema mentioned above, may have been a conscious effort to acknowledge change in the official physiognomy from reign to reign. The dense and complex accoutrements of this statue also bear the hallmarks of the reign of Amenemhet III (Delange 1987: 82-3). Both men wear the diagonal priestly shoulder band, eight-strand beaded aprons with complex ties, and a unique and ornate chain necklace featuring mummified falcons and the necropolis god Anubis with arms upraised in prayer. This intriguing statue has no known parallel.

In another example of creative re-thinking of a known sculpture type, the block statue of the Steward of the Counting of Cattle, Senwosretsenbefny (figure 39.15), features a small-scale representation of the owner’s wife Itneferuseneb, standing between his feet. Viewed frontally, wig, lap, legs, and base each meet at right angles, forecasting a trend toward simplification and reduction to geometric forms. The view is deceptive, since, viewed from the side or at an angle, the statue displays a

Figure 39.14 Paris, Louvre A47. Sehetepibreankhnedjem and Nebpu, Dynasty 12, quartzite. © Mus{;e du Louvre/Georges Poncet.

Sophisticated melding of curvilinear, organic forms. Senwosretsenbefny’s face has the calm, inner strength of a mature man, despite any overt signs of age. His eyes are naturalistic but not given special emphasis. The lower part of his face projects forward, particularly his lower lip, which gives him a hint of a frown. The statue fits in well with the parameters of sculpture of the time of Amenemhet III, although an earlier date is possible as well (Romano 1989: no. 22). Napoleon brought it back from Egypt as a gift to his wife Josephine (Romano 1989: no. 22).

In addition to relatively few larger scale and accomplished private works, there are countless examples from this time on of small-scale statues of minor officials, often with their families, that make up in charm what they lack in sophistication. Found not only at Abydos, but also throughout the country and into the Levant and the Sudan, they are often crudely proportioned, lopsided, and downright amusing. They represented their owner’s eternal presence in a tomb or temple and gave him access to the benefits of life in the Netherworld. In contrast to the statues which seldom bear a royal name, more stelae are dated by inscription to Amenemhet III’s reign than any other Middle Kingdom king with the exception of Senwosret I (Simpson 1974a: 28-9). Most often they include multiple figures in passive, repetitive poses arranged in long rows below the dedicant, who is seated beside a table of offerings. The depiction of a

Figure 39.15 New York, Brooklyn Museum 39.602. Block statue of Senwosretsenbefny, Dynasty 12, quartzite. Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund. Photograph courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum.

Private individual worshipping a god directly represents a major innovation of this time, and it is in keeping with the greater access to and popularization of religion at the end of Dynasty Twelve.

Amenemhet IV

Amenemhet III’s reign was the last of the lengthy and productive periods of Dynasty Twelve, and, although his son (or grandson) Amenemhet IV succeeded him, the highest Regnal Year attested for him is nine, possibly including a several-year-long coregency (Callender 2000: 170). A pedestal decorated with uraeii bearing his head in a nemes (Brunton 1939: 177-9, pls. 23-4) is the only inscribed royal sculpture bearing his unrecarved image. The faces, although small in scale and very damaged, exhibit hooded eyes similar to those of Senwosret III. This is the first time the king’s face adorns a uraeus, and in this respect he continues the creativity of his father. Amenemhet IV completed several temples begun by his father in the Fayum, most notably Medinet Madi, built to honor the goddess of the harvest, Renenutet. Large-scale, flat and unmodeled reliefs of the king and gods adorn the walls.

Not surprisingly, little private material is specifically dated to the reign of Amenemhet IV, although certainly some of the smaller-scale undated works must

Be from this time. A few private stelae from Abydos bear the cartouches of both Amenemhet III and IV. Stylistically these resemble the mass-produced, rote works described earlier.

Sobeknofru

Sobeknofru, the wife of Amenemhet IV and, according to the historian Manetho, his sister as well, was the last king of Dynasty Twelve. On three headless statues from Khatana (Habachi 1952: 458ff., pls. 8-9) she wears traditional female attire, but, in a torso in the Louvre of unknown provenance (Delange 1987: 30-1), she is depicted with both male and female attributes. Atop the traditional female sheath dress, she wears a nemes, a double lobed, pierced amulet on a beaded chain of the type usually worn by kings beginning with Senwosret II, and a high-waisted kilt with a triangular projection first appearing under Senwosret III. Another attempt to combine genders is shown in her use of both male and female titles (Callender 2000: 170-1).