Introduction

One of the most exciting and innovative periods in Egyptian history and art history, the Middle Kingdom is ironically, one of the least studied. At the beginning artists attempted to resume working in the styles of the Old Kingdom, but within several generations they set off in new directions and succeeded in producing some of the most sophisticated works in stone and wood that rank among the finest of any time and any place. Domestic stability, international contacts, and long prosperous reigns combined to produce this flowering. In addition to sculpture and relief, the decorative arts of the Middle Kingdom are likewise creative, refined, and technically complex.

By the height of the Old Kingdom, Egypt’s Pyramid Age, Egyptian artists, under royal sponsorship and based largely in the greater Memphite area, perfected methods of carving hard stone and worked out an ideal for representing the human body in both statuary and relief. They developed a variety of statue types to meet different needs and invented an artistic vocabulary to fulfill royal, religious, funerary, and social demands. Although changes and embellishments accompanied every new era, basic tenets developed during this time would serve the country throughout Dynastic history and beyond.

Through Dynasty Six most officials chose to be buried in the Memphite area near the king, but others chose their regional homelands (nomes), far outside the Memphite necropoleis. Their tomb decoration and the sculptures found within often exhibited a local stamp but nevertheless attempted to copy the basic forms of the Memphite court. With the collapse of a strong central authority at the end of Dynasty Six the Memphite area lost its dominance, and in its place nomes throughout Egypt became focal points of power and governance. This period is often called the First Intermediate Period (Seidlemayer 2000: 118ff.). Local leaders, or nomarchs, and their administrative officials were buried in their home areas in tombs created by local craftsmen. Lacking central schools of artists, and in all but a few cases lacking earlier models to copy, each area evolved its own distinctive style and color palette. Stone sculpture of the tomb owner was rare, and many examples once thought to have been from the First Intermediate Period are now believed to be later.