| Description.
In this over-life-size sculpture, Ra-wer strides with his left leg forward
and his arms straight at his sides. His idealized body is youthful. He wears
a short kilt of linen cloth, crimped at one side, with a section of his
belt extending upward from his waist. In his right hand he grasps a roll
of cloth, which may be a handkerchief, and in his left hand he holds a rounded
object, possibly an abbreviated staff. Because a stone staff or scepter
extending from Ra-wer’s body could be easily broken, the artist may
have carved an abbreviated staff to stand for what the nobleman would have
carried in real life (Bothmer 1950, 15).
Reconstruction. This
sculpture of Ra-wer originally stood as part of a large family group located
in his tomb. Dealers’ agents (presumably) removed this sculpture
group before the burial chamber was officially excavated and cut each
figure free from the other. Ra-wer was cut into pieces probably to aid
transportation (Cooney 55).
The
group once stood on a pedestal whose inscription identified each figure:
Ra-wer, his father, mother, daughter, and son (Hassan 3, 27-9). The three
adult figures are missing their heads and feet. Originally the mother,
Hetep-heres (Ziegler, “Standing Woman” 205, and “Lady Hetep-heres”
376-7), stood on Ra-wer’s left side (see drawing).
This sculpture, now at the Worcester Art Museum, is an exquisitely carved
female wearing a fine, tight-fitting linen dress. Her left leg is advanced
in a masculine pose, an unusual stance for a woman (Cooney 55). Her arm
went around Ra-wer’s waist, and the outline of her hand is visible
on the true right side of his torso. Another male figure, Ra-wer’s
father, Itisen, once stood to his right, and is now in the Brooklyn Museum
of Art. The group also included two children. A daughter, also named Hetep-heres,
stood between Ra-wer and his father. The small sculpture of her is in
The Harer Family Trust, a private collection, but her hand is visible
on Ra-wer’s right leg. The Harer sculpture is in poor condition.
The figure is missing her left arm and both legs are broken off at the
knees. The face was recarved in modern times. A son, who was also named
Ra-wer and is presently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, stood between
his grandmother and father. Although his legs are broken at mid-thigh,
the left arm is intact and his original head bears a sidelock, that is,
a broad braid of hair worn hanging over the ear, a traditional sign of
youth. Both figures are shown nude with now-missing right hands held to
their mouths in the usual method of representing children (Shaw, Nicholson
64).
Ra-wer. Ra-wer’s
name, meaning “Ra is Great,” celebrates Ra, the powerful god
of the sun. This nobleman’s many titles, inscribed in his tomb, include
sem-priest, Director of the Palace, and Master of the Secrets
of the King (Hassan 2-3).
Function. In accord
with Egyptian religious beliefs, this statue stood in Ra-wer’s tomb
and would have housed his vital life force, or ka, after his death
(O’Brien 126-8). The ka could live eternally in such a strong
and enduring body.
Chronology. The dating
of Ra-wer’s tomb is controversial. An inscription on its inside mentions
Shepseskaf, the last king of the 4th Dynasty (about 2508-2500 B.C.), but
an inscription on a stela that was set up outside the tomb and was probably
put up after Ra-wer’s sepulcher was closed, tells of an incident
between Ra-wer and Neferirkare, king of the early 5th Dynasty (about 2472-2462
B.C.). This stela (now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo) recounts that at
an official ceremony, Neferirkare’s staff knocked against Ra-wer’s
leg. Usually this would have been a punishable offense; however, the pharaoh
excused the incident and announced that he wished Ra-wer well. The pharaoh
ordered that Ra-wer be favored above all and the event be recorded in
his tomb (Hassan 18-9; Der Manuelian 149; Ziegler, “Lady Hethep-heres”
376).
His tomb. Between 1929
and 1930, Ra-wer’s tomb and 17 nearby mastabas were excavated in
a large area near the Sphinx in Giza. Located directly southwest of the
Sphinx, Ra-wer’s tomb is one of the largest private tombs of the
Old Kingdom ever discovered in Egypt (Hassan 1; Porter, Moss III, 1, 265-7;
Hawass 157). It was an extensive building complex made up of a series
of irregular chambers. Generally an Old Kingdom tomb has one to five serdabs,
or enclosed chambers, but Ra-wer’s tomb had 25 serdabs (Jánosi
39 n. 63; see also 37 n. 20). Considering the complex’s many chambers
and 20 niches, Ra-wer’s tomb may have held more than a hundred statues
and statuettes for Ra-wer and his family (Ziegler, “Nonroyal Statuary,”
57, 70 n.11)—an unusually high number for a monarch, much less for
a private person.
Inside Ra-wer’s tomb many sculptures
were discovered, including a beautifully carved alabaster panel and a
triple portrait statuette of limestone (Hassan 21; Porter, Moss III, 1,
267-9; Labbé-Toutée and Ziegler 396). The tomb’s walls
contained reliefs depicting scenes of men and women bearing offerings
to the deceased (Hassan 10-1). Ra-wer, standing as the center of his large
family group sculpture within a serdab, would have been a breathtaking
sight inside this impressive tomb (Hassan 27-9).
Published: Handbook
1941, 13; John Cooney, “A Tentative Identification of Three Old
Kingdom Sculptures,” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 31 (1945),
54-7; Handbook
1949, 13; Handbook
1959, 17; Apollo
1972, 476 fig. 2; Handbook
1973, 21; Porter, Moss III, 1 (1974),
267-8; Handbook
1993, 110; Kathleen Garland and Joe Rogers, “The Disassembly
and Reassembly of an Egyptian Limestone Sculpture,” The Journal
of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic
Works 40 (1995), 1-9; Christiane Ziegler, “La Dame Hetpherès,”
in L’art égyptien
298; Christiane Ziegler, “Lady Hetep-heres,” in Age
of Pyramids 376-7.
Other cited sources:
Bernard Bothmer, “Notes on the Mycerinus Triad,” Bulletin
of The Museum of Fine Arts 48 (1950), 10-7; Peter Der Manuelian, “Excavating
the Old Kingdom: The Giza Necropolis and Other Mastaba Fields,” in
Age of Pyramids 155-65; Selim
Hassan, Excavations at Giza 1929-1930 (Oxford: Oxford University
Press 1932), 1-61; Zahi Hawass, “Excavating the Old Kingdom: The
Egyptian Archaeologists,” in Age
of Pyramids 155-65; Peter Jánosi, “The Tombs of Officials,”
in Age of Pyramids 27-39:
Sophie Labbé-Toutée and Christiane Ziegler, “Stela
of Ra-wer,” in Age of Pyramids
396; Alexandra O’Brien, “The Serekh as an Aspect of the Iconography
of Early Kingship,” Journal of the American Research Center in
Egypt 33 (December 1996), 123-38; Shaw,
Nicholson; Christiane Ziegler, “Nonroyal Statuary,” in Age
of Pyramids 57-71; Christiane Ziegler, “Standing Woman,”
in Age of Pyramids 205.
Other useful sources:
William Stevenson Smith, A History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting
in the Old Kingdom (London: Oxford University Press, 1946), 46, 50-1,
55, 74, 85, 191.
(RT)
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