Bust of Ankhhaf

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). The bust of Ankhhaf, o