Two-sided relief
with portrait of a pharaoh
and two heads
Date: 664-30 B.C. (Late
Period [Dynasties 26-31] to Ptolemaic Period)
Medium: limestone
Provenance: Egypt
Dimensions: height 9”, width 9 3/16”
Accession number: 41-44
Condition: fair. The side with the single portrait is in excellent condition. Much of its two top corners and a little of the lower corner on our left are missing; the ruler’s shoulder has been damaged slightly. Figures on the badly battered reverse side are poorly preserved.
Description. The front half of the portrait of a king (and his left shoulder) lies before a large, uncut ledge. The king’s almond-shaped eye points down slightly and his brow is raised. The corners of his lips are turned up. Despite his smooth, youthful skin, his double chin indicates middle age. He apparently wears a nemes (unfinished) whose uraeus has a single coil. The three faint ink inscriptions in demotic name Pasherpamut, Udjaefsahor, and Chaienimu (see Function). The relief’s reverse side is upside-down. It has two shoulder-length figures: a man whose right shoulder is turned to the viewer and whose head is in profile; a woman behind him whose head is in profile and left shoulder is in frontal view.