Statue of Tjeteti as a young man

Period: Old Kingdom

Dynasty: Dynasty 6

Reign: later reign of Pepi II at earliest

Date: ca. 2200–2152 B.C.

Geography: From Egypt, Memphite Region, Saqqara, Teti Pyramid Cemetery, Tomb 6001 of Tjeteti, Serdab, Egyptian Antiquities Service excavations

Medium: Wood

Dimensions: H. 52 × W. 15 × D. 29.2 cm, 1.5 kg (20 1/2 in., 15 × 29.2 cm, 3.2 lb.)

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1926

Accession Number: 26.2.8a, b

Description

The short kilt of this statue contrasted with the long kilt on the statue of the same man (26.2.9) cue the viewer to the fact that the first is meant to represent Tjeteti as a young active man and the second as a mature official.

These two statues have been pointed to as exemplars of a 'second style' that emerged in Egyptian elite art at the end of the 5th dynasty and gradually became the prevailing style. Where serene self-contained countenances had been the order since the 4th dyansty, the faces of statues in the second style may show overlarge eyes and countenances lined not by age but by animation. Bodies of statues may also be thinner and less muscled, and hands may be overlarge. The change probably reflects religious changes at the time.

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