Categories and Location of Statues

It is with the rise of the Third Dynasty at the beginning of the Old Kingdom that Egyptian sculpture develops to the point where it achieves unprecedented quality and the production of masterpieces. The majority of the statues derive from royal funerary temples of the Memphite region and their auxiliary cemeteries containing the tombs of great officials. Royal sculpture in the round flourishes in the Old Kingdom, and, although the preserved statues of kings are not as numerous as those of some later periods, enough has survived from practically every reign to allow insights into the evolution of official sculpture.

The funerary monument of the Egyptian king was articulated around the pyramid and contained royal and divine statues, stelae, tables of offerings, stands, barques and

Other temple furniture. It is a transposition of the royal residence into hard and durable materials for eternity, and it was the center and motor of a universe intended to last for ever. The preserved statues mainly represent the king in well-defined attitudes, namely seated, to receive the offerings; standing, to appear, perform ceremonies, and be accompanied by deities; or kneeling, to present the necessary offerings to the gods. Statues in the attitude of Osiris, the first of the rulers of Egypt, depict the king like his divine ancestor, holding the royal insignia against his chest. Both in the Valley Temple, where the king was venerated, and the Mortuary Temple, through which the king was introduced and admitted into the divine sphere, gradually passing into the celestial world, certain types of statue were reserved for each temple division. They were transpositions, sculpted in the round, depicting the funerary and ritual scenes that were also represented in bas-relief on the walls of the temples. Thus, statues were an integral part of the architecture. The courtiers and officials of the king’s entourage, having been awarded with a tomb by their ruler, were also granted statues to preserve their likeness for the afterlife, and with stelae and false doors, later entire wall decorations, to show these high officials with their family members and their household engaged in their activities. Strict principles govern royal representation and, accordingly, standard conventions are adopted to depict the king’s entourage.