Left Side of a Statuette, Probably a Nude Male
Middle Kingdom
Not on view
This slightly smiling figure wears a bagwig; the lack of any trace of a garment across the leg indicates that it was nude. The fisted proper left hand, the absence of a pubic triangle, and the iliac crest visible around the hip all indicate a male representation; female figures generally have either open palms or carry birds in a fisted right hand, not the left. Male nude figures are rare in the Middle Kingdom. They have been described as ka-figures, representations of a part of a person’s soul, because one example carries a ka¬-sign on his head. However, it is uncertain if all male nudes had the same meaning.
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