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This object is exceptional by the standards of most ancient Egyptian art, and few other pharaonic sculptures have invited quite as much comment. Representing the torso, head, shoulders, and upper arms of a male, the bust was discovered in 1925 by an Egyptian team working for the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition directed by George Andrew Reisner. Although uninscribed, its find-spot, in the tomb chapel of Ankhhaf in the Eastern Cemetery of Giza, caused it to be identified with him. Ankhhaf was a king’s son who held the important titles of Vizier and Overseer of Royal Works late in the reign of Khufu and into that of Khafra (c.2580-2530 BC).
Carved from limestone, covered with a thin layer of moulded plaster, and then painted red-brown, the bust has sustained damage to the nose and lost its ears. Despite that, the sculpture is remarkably well preserved, and was seemingly created as a truncated bust rather than as part of a complete human figure.
The supple contours of the flesh create the plausible appearance of a living individual, an effect tested in the 1940s: when an exact replica of the piece was repainted, dressed in a modern suit, tie, and hat, and seated at a table in a café, it was accepted as a modern patron. This apparent tendency to replicate a unique individual has led to somewhat breathless descriptions of the bust as ‘a true portrait’. Such an assessment exposes the judgemental approach to all ancient Egyptian art: a true ‘masterpiece’ can only ever be something that conforms to what modern viewers think of as natural realism – that is, a faithful image of how someone appeared in life.
The reality is likely to have been much more complex. The form of the piece is unique and resists interpretation. Whatever the intentions behind its creation, this 4,500-year-old face poses more questions than it offers answers.
Image: Robert B Partridge (RBP)
