Germany to Loan Seated Statue of Hemiunu to Egypt
By STAN PARCHIN
April 11, 2010
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| Egyptian, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4 (ca. 2551-2528 B.C.). Seated Statue of Hemiunu. Limestone with remains of paint. H. 155.5 cm (61.2 in.); W. 61.5 cm (24.2 in.); D. 104.7 cm (41.2 in.). Roemer- und- Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim. Photograph provided by Flickr. |
The Roemer-und Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim, Germany announced today plans to loan the Seated Statue of Hemiunu (ca. 2551-2528 B.C.) to Egypt for the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in 2013. The Old Kingdom sculpture is one of six high-profile objects that Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and Deputy Minister of Culture, seeks to have repatriated to his homeland. Hemiunu's massive portrait last traveled exclusively to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art for the special exhibition Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids (September 16, 1999-January 9, 2000).
Hemiunu was the nephew and vizier (chief minister) of Pharaoh Khufu (r. 2551-2528 B.C.). A colored-paste inscription on the statue's base identifies the prince by his various titles, including member of the elite, high official, priest of Bastet and Overseer of All Construction Projects of the King. Hemiunu supervised the building of the Fourth Dynasty ruler's Great Pyramid and other works at Giza.
The life-size statue of Hemiunu was originally fully painted. The presumed architect of Khufu's tomb is depicted wearing a loincloth. The large-breasted subject is shown with his left hand resting on his knee and his right hand clenched, typical of Old Kingdom seated sculpture. The portrait's oblong face with full cheeks and small sharp chin is largely reconstructed. It was probably smashed by thieves in earlier times to remove the inlaid colored stones (most likely rock crystal) and gold casings that comprised the statue's eyes. The sculptor paid meticulous attention to the modeling of the obese Hemiunu's physical features, most notably his elbows, cuticles of the nails, wrinkles of the fingers' joints and folds of sagging flesh on his chest and sides.
Source
Arnold, Dorothea, et al. Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, 229-233.
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