This intriguing group has been variously interpreted as a family comprising a grandfather, a father, and a son, or as one man at three different stages of life. The latter is most unlikely as the multiple represenations of a single individual in one statue are not shown interacting as they do here. In fact careful examination of the faces and figures points to the fact that the statue is a kind of domestic icon. The figure at left is a high-status individual and likely the oldest; he is probably a revered relative or the respected overlord of the man and boy who stand closely entwined with one another. The statuette would probably have received veneration in the household of its owner.

• Provenance

  Purchased by the Museum in Luxor from Mohammed Mohassib, 1911.
  
  

• Timeline of Art History (2000–present)
  Timelines

  Egypt, 2000–1000 B.C.
• MetPublications
  82nd & Fifth (2013)

  The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, The Hyksos Period and the New Kingdom (1675–1080 B.C.) (1978)