SculptureEgyptian7th-4th century BCE

Magical Stele

26th-31st dynasty, c. 664-332 BCE

Description

Parallel sided stele with oval top, mounted by head of Bes in the round. Bes's head has small, flat cap-like top, large projecting relief ears, and beard cut off horizontally just below the chin. The top of the stele curves upward on either side to meet the Bes Head. A stepped relief element looking like the ends of a garment flank the head of Bes. The figural reliefs on the stele occur in two registers. The upper register depicts a centrally placed nude male figure facing to the right, standing on a base carved with two small crocodiles. His head is covered with a closely fitting coiffeur or cap ending in a curl which in turn rests upon a curving feature around the neck that may be a pectoral. The figure grasps two serpents in each hand; with the right he grasps the head or horns of a small bovine figure, perhaps a goat or antelope. With his left hand he grasps a scorpion and a small lion by their tails in addition to the two snakes which rise symmetrically upward with their heads curved outward on either side. To the right of this figure stands a hawk headed deity, perhaps Horus. He grasps a waz scepter in his right hand and an ankh in his left. He wears a wig whose ends hand downward over a pectoral. He wears both the crowns of upper and Lower Egypt. A short belted kilt extends from the waist down to just above his knees. There is a streamer or tail-like tip of a belt that extends along the left leg all the way to the ground line. On the left side stands a goddess, feet together wearing a long tight garment that ends just above her ankles. She faces to the right toward the central standing figure. She wears a wig whose lock extends in relief from just below her ear to past her pectoral. A solar disc cradled in horns rises from a low platform on her head. There seems to be a uraeus (cobra) projecting from the top of her forehead. Her ear and frontal eye are carefully carved in relief. She holds an upright scepter with flairing tip in her left hand and an ankh held downward in her right. She may be the goddess Hathor. Intact. Sides and back marked by chisel cuts. The lower register depicts two figures in relief facing each other rendered in much larger scale than those in the upper register. A block like projection from the ground line register extends downward in relief. It has been cut away on the right to outline the head and censer held by the right hand figure. The figures that face each other are the standing hippotamus goddess demon Tauert, protectress of women in childbirth. Tauert places her right paw on an upright curving object of unknown character. A pointed object appears to extend vertically upward from her paw. Her mane extends vertically all the way down her back and widens out into a tail whose pointed tip touches the bottom of the relief. To her right a male figure with left foot advanced stands before her extending in his left hand a censer with conical bowl for incense and handle that ends in a curved duck's head. His downward curving left arm holds what appears to be a stone vase with flat top and bottom. A lotus branch with open blossom appears to float in front of it. Rising from the ground line is a stand with concave sides upon which rests an oval form that looks like an ostrich egg, a small snakehead projects from its upper left side. The offering man has an elongated, rounded bald head, carefully carved ear, frontal eye, nose and mouth. The top of his upper garment is carefully set off from this neck. A diagonal groove at the level of the hips suggests some kind of fastening at the middle of the body. A curving incised line descends to just below the knee to the garment covering the right leg. The skirt of the garment projects beyond the legs and ends in a horizontal line just above the ankles. David G. Mitten

Classification

Sculpture

Technique

Carved

Medium

Limestone

Culture

Egyptian

Period

Late Period

Century

7th-4th century BCE