EOE-Ptolemy I

Portrait possibly of Ptolemy I

Date: probably early 3rd century B.C. (Ptolemaic Period)
Medium: limestone
Provenance: Egypt
Dimensions: height 9 1/2”, width 8 1/2”,
depth 7”
Accession number: 34-141

Condition: excellent. Damage to tip of nose, top of his left ear, area before his right ear lobe, and part of frontlet over his left eyebrow.

Description. The sculpture portrays the front two-thirds of the head from the frontlet to the neck. The interior has been carved out, and the top of the head is flat. The ruler has fleshy lips and a slight double chin. His almond-shaped eyes with thin lids tilt slightly downwards; his thin, low-relief eyebrows are raised. The bridge of his nose forms an upside-down triangle. His large ears are fleshy.

Dating and identity. The ruler’s identity remains unknown. Josephson (1995, 11; 1997, 42-4) has suggested that the sculpture portrays Ptolemy I basically because it combines stylistic elements of the 30th Dynasty (381-343 B.C.) and the early Ptolemaic Period (starting 305 B.C.). The Dynasty 30 features include the inverted triangle over the nose, the shape and position of the eyes and eyebrows, and the full lips undercut at the corners. The Ptolemaic features are the naturalistic and fleshy modeling of the cheeks and area around the mouth, and also the rendering of the double chin and back of the ears. Josephson (1997, 43) cites a royal portrait in the Brooklyn Museum of Art as comparandum (acc. no. 53.75; Bianchi in Fazzini et al. cat. no. 86).

Function. The sculpture’s function is unknown. Similar types of sculptures are in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (Josephson 1997, 43; Young 255 fig. 12).

Historical background. A general of Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I of Macedonia (305-282 B.C.) was the first of a long series of Greek-speaking kings to rule Egypt. His empire included Palestine, Cyprus, and parts of the Aegean and Asia Minor. He reorganized the state’s administrative, legal, and military structure. His line ended with the death of the famous Cleopatra VII in 30 B.C.

Published: Handbook 1993, 115; Jack Josephson, “A Fragmentary Egyptian Head from Heliopolis,” Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal 30 (1995), 11; Jack Josephson, Egyptian Royal Sculpture of the Late Period, 400-246 B.C. (Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, 1997), 42-4.

Other cited sources: Robert Bianchi in Richard Fazzini, Robert Bianchi, James Romano, and Donald Spanel, Ancient Egyptian Art in the Brooklyn Museum (New York: The Brooklyn Museum, 1989); Eric Young, “Sculptors’ Models or Votives?” Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art n.s. 22 (March 1964), 246-56.

(RC)