Hemiunu Seated
Title
Hemiunu Seated
Date
4th dynasty (Old Kingdom), ca. 2570 BC
Artist or Workshop
Unknown
Materials
Limestone with traces of paint and paste inlay
Height of the work
155.5 cm tall
Provenience
Egypt, Giza, Western Cemetery, serdab of mastaba G 4000
Current Location
Roemer - und Pelizaeus - Museum in Hildesheim, Germany
Sitter Biography
Hemiunu was nephew and vizier to the 4th Dynasty pharaoh Khufu in the mid third millennium BC. He is purported to have been the architect of Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza, next to which he (Hemiunu) was buried. He was the son of Prince Nefermaat and Itet, grandson of the 3rd Dynasty pharaoh, Snefru, and held many official titles including "Priest of Bastet" and "Master of Scribes."
Description and Significance
Description:
The portrait of "Hemiunu Seated" depicts a lifesize male figure seated on a block of stone, with his legs together and both hands resting on his thighs. The shoulders and hips are in axial alignment, and the figure exhibits strict frontality, giving the overall portrait a block-like appearance. His left hand rests flat, palm downward, while his right hand (partly restored) is curled in a fist and holds an enigmatic cylindrical object (possibly a piece of folded cloth). The fingernails and knuckle wrinkles of both hands are finely rendered. The figure wears a short kilt knotted at the waist. His legs and arms are full and fleshy, as is his torso, which features large breasts, a heavy belly with a crushed navel, and rolls of fat along his back. The hair on the figure's head is close-cropped and smooth, imitating the texture of his skin. The figure has a sagging chin, and a thin, closed mouth. The figure's eyes and nose are heavily restored; the eyes may have originally been crafted from quartz with gold casings. With the restorations in place, the statue's face is demonstrably serene. The sitter's titles are listed in hieroglyphs on the upper surface of the block beneath his feet. The characters are carved in sunken relief and filled with colored paste. Traces of color on other parts the statue indicate that it was once painted.
Significance:
As rendered by the ancient artist, this large, and very heavy (ca. 1 ton) portrait of Hemiunu conveys the sitter's high social status. His frontal pose, facial serenity, and youthful features echo pharaonic portraits, while his fleshy body indicates that he was wealthy and well-fed. It has been argued by scholars that the rolls of fat on Hemiunu's torso are characteristic of a person of much larger size, suggesting that these elements were added as markers of status rather than as accurate reflections of the sitter's physical body. This incongruity aside, Hemiunu's face and body still give the impression of a specific individual rather than a generic "type," situating it among other relatively "realistic" portraits of the Old Kingdom such as the "reserve heads" from selected 4th Dynasty tombs. As discovered by Herman Junker in 1912, the portrait of Hemiunu was secreted away in a serdab in the sitter's mastaba tomb (among the largest constructed at Giza) where it received offerings (through a small opening in the wall) that helped Hemiunu to achieve life after death. Despite this ancient attempt to protect the statue, tomb robbers broke into the chamber during the Roman period and damaged Hemiunu's portrait - a lamentable, yet all-too-common fate of many examples of Egyptian funerary art.
The portrait of "Hemiunu Seated" depicts a lifesize male figure seated on a block of stone, with his legs together and both hands resting on his thighs. The shoulders and hips are in axial alignment, and the figure exhibits strict frontality, giving the overall portrait a block-like appearance. His left hand rests flat, palm downward, while his right hand (partly restored) is curled in a fist and holds an enigmatic cylindrical object (possibly a piece of folded cloth). The fingernails and knuckle wrinkles of both hands are finely rendered. The figure wears a short kilt knotted at the waist. His legs and arms are full and fleshy, as is his torso, which features large breasts, a heavy belly with a crushed navel, and rolls of fat along his back. The hair on the figure's head is close-cropped and smooth, imitating the texture of his skin. The figure has a sagging chin, and a thin, closed mouth. The figure's eyes and nose are heavily restored; the eyes may have originally been crafted from quartz with gold casings. With the restorations in place, the statue's face is demonstrably serene. The sitter's titles are listed in hieroglyphs on the upper surface of the block beneath his feet. The characters are carved in sunken relief and filled with colored paste. Traces of color on other parts the statue indicate that it was once painted.
Significance:
As rendered by the ancient artist, this large, and very heavy (ca. 1 ton) portrait of Hemiunu conveys the sitter's high social status. His frontal pose, facial serenity, and youthful features echo pharaonic portraits, while his fleshy body indicates that he was wealthy and well-fed. It has been argued by scholars that the rolls of fat on Hemiunu's torso are characteristic of a person of much larger size, suggesting that these elements were added as markers of status rather than as accurate reflections of the sitter's physical body. This incongruity aside, Hemiunu's face and body still give the impression of a specific individual rather than a generic "type," situating it among other relatively "realistic" portraits of the Old Kingdom such as the "reserve heads" from selected 4th Dynasty tombs. As discovered by Herman Junker in 1912, the portrait of Hemiunu was secreted away in a serdab in the sitter's mastaba tomb (among the largest constructed at Giza) where it received offerings (through a small opening in the wall) that helped Hemiunu to achieve life after death. Despite this ancient attempt to protect the statue, tomb robbers broke into the chamber during the Roman period and damaged Hemiunu's portrait - a lamentable, yet all-too-common fate of many examples of Egyptian funerary art.
References
Breckenridge, J. D. Likeness: A Conceptual History of Ancient Portraiture, Northwestern University Press, 1968, p. 42.
Allen, J. P. et al. Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 229-231.
Fischer, H. G. "An Elusive Shape Within the Fisted Hands of Egyptian Statues," Metropolitan Museum Journal 10, 1975, pp. 9-21.
http://www.rpmuseum.de/english/egypt/egypt-articles.html
https://archaeologyatrandom.wordpress.com/hemiunu/
Allen, J. P. et al. Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 229-231.
Fischer, H. G. "An Elusive Shape Within the Fisted Hands of Egyptian Statues," Metropolitan Museum Journal 10, 1975, pp. 9-21.
http://www.rpmuseum.de/english/egypt/egypt-articles.html
https://archaeologyatrandom.wordpress.com/hemiunu/
Contributor
Professor Emily Egan
Citation
Unknown, “Hemiunu Seated,” Digital Portrait "Basket" - ARTH488A - "Ancient Mediterranean Portraiture", accessed May 20, 2024, https://classicalchopped2.artinterp.org/omeka/items/show/1.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.