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anneke
Queen of Egypt
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 9305
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 Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:44 pm Post subject: Standard bearer Nebre |
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Hawass has a picture on his blog of a statue of Nebre found in 2000
http://www.drhawass.com/photoblog/neb-re-statue
What exactly is a standard bearer? Is it just someone who performs the duty of carrying the standard of a deity in a procession?
Would this have been prestigious? It looks to me like Nebre would have had some standing in society. The statue is beautifully detailed. It looks to me like that must have cost a bit in those days to have this made. Or would that possibly be a gift from a king or high ranking priest to Nebre? |
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neseret
Vizier
Joined: 10 Jul 2008
Posts: 1033
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:37 pm Post subject: Re: Standard bearer Nebre |
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| anneke wrote: | Hawass has a picture on his blog of a statue of Nebre found in 2000
http://www.drhawass.com/photoblog/neb-re-statue
What exactly is a standard bearer? Is it just someone who performs the duty of carrying the standard of a deity in a procession?
Would this have been prestigious? It looks to me like Nebre would have had some standing in society. The statue is beautifully detailed. It looks to me like that must have cost a bit in those days to have this made. Or would that possibly be a gift from a king or high ranking priest to Nebre? |
According to the Liverpool website, Neb-Re was indeed of high status, with other texts noting him as the commander of the fortress at Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham. Apparently, god Ptah and his wife, the goddess Sekhmet, were the patron deities of the area around Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham.
Carrying a standard of the deity of an area was a high honour, and often imparted that the bearer had religious duties to the deity/ies as part of his duties. A similar statue of prince Khaemwaset, son of Ramses II, now in the British Museum, interprets his bearing of the Abydos standard as "...Khaemwaset displaying his piety before Osiris by holding one of the god's symbols, the emblem of the nome (province) of Abydos." They also stated that such a statue was "...probably intended to be set up in the temple at Abydos."
HTH.
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Katherine Griffis-Greenberg
Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Oriental Studies
Doctoral Programme [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom |
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anneke
Queen of Egypt
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 9305
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the info neseret.
The added bit about the intention of the statue to be set up in the temple is interesting.
Isn't there also a standard bearer statue of Queen Nefertari?
I'm thinking this one:
That's the only known one of a queen that I know of.
The statues are beautiful. The detail in the dress is quite interesting. Nice pleated linnens  |
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anneke
Queen of Egypt
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 9305
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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This is the statue of Khaemwaset:
The stone on this is interesting. It seems to have a lot of inclusions? Somehow the carving is of high quality, but the stone is not. |
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kylejustin
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Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 1232
Location: victoria, australia
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:31 am Post subject: |
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isn't there also one of queen tiy? looking at the one of nefertari, it reminded me of tiye. the statue is gorgeous.
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heaven won't take me.......hell's afraid i'll take over..... |
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neseret
Vizier
Joined: 10 Jul 2008
Posts: 1033
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:46 am Post subject: |
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| anneke wrote: | This is the statue of Khaemwaset:
The stone on this is interesting. It seems to have a lot of inclusions? Somehow the carving is of high quality, but the stone is not. |
The quality of the carving, as you note, is extremely high; what is less apparent is that inscriptions are also carved into the stone, both in front and along the back pillar.
As the British Museum (who owns the statue) describes the material, it is "...sandstone with a vein of pebbly conglomerate shows the skill with which sculptors could work even the most difficult material."
I have had many discussion with other Egyptologists and art historians about this statue, and one conclusion we have all come to is if the stone was not chosen to "make a statement" about the subject (Khaemwaset), there would be little reason to use it. As Khaemwaset was a prince, he could have easily rejected inferior stone, but the mastery in which the pebbled vein is smoothed and utilised is really amazing.
Khaemwaset appears known during his lifetime for being something of a historian/archaeologist (he is often referred to as the "first Egyptologist" as part of his duties was to inspect and restore ancient Egyptioan monuments during his life). By the Late Period, stories appear which refer to him as a 'magician' (the Setne Khaemwaset story cycles, where Khaemwaset could even win against death itself (the famous sent game between himself and the deceased Naneferkaptah to acquire the Book of Thoth)). So it's very possible that, when shown this stone (with the pebbled vein apparent), Khaemwaset himself approved his statue being made of it anyway, perhaps to make a point that 'every being is in the process of becoming' (one colleague's opinion, which I liked). However, it's speculation, but, I think, a studied one.
As for the Nefertari statue, the image she carried appears to be that of Mut, with which the queen was closely associated (her fully title, for example, was "Nefertari Merymut").
I'm not aware of a statue of Tiye with a standard, but if an image can be found, I would not be surprised if the standard image is of Hathor, with whom Tiye was often associated.
_________________
Katherine Griffis-Greenberg
Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Oriental Studies
Doctoral Programme [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom |
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anneke
Queen of Egypt
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 9305
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting point. I hadn't thought about it that way, but your of course right. There is no reason someone of as high a status as Khaemwaset would have accepted an inferior product.
I looked at a better image:
Wikimedia Commons picture
It really is beautifully carved! The 'every being is in the process of becoming' interpretation is interesting. Quit philosophical?
I wonder if there could also be some duality intended. The red parts and the white parts seem to somewhat balance each other? Maybe an attempt to depict himself as a prince of the Two Lands?
I'm just speculating of course, but once you got me thinking about the possible symbolic interpretation/meaning it's fun to think about |
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