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Sculptor's model for the head of a king
Late Period, Dynasty XXVI 664 BCE-525 BCE
Medium
plaster
Measurements
17.5 × 10.0 × 10.4 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Bequest of Howard Spensley, 1939
© Public Domain
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts - Great Hall Costume Corridor
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This plaster model of a king may have been produced as part of an approvals process before the sculpture was commissioned in stone. Its facial features– the roundness of the face and the small mouth with a slight smile – are distinctiveof the Late Period or Ptolemaic Period. Yet we should not regard this model asan individual portrait; rather, it is an idealised image of an unknown king. They wear symbols of kingship including the ureaus, a protective rearing cobra on the forehead, and a headdress that may represent the striped nemes headcloth orthe blue crown, one of the royal crowns that would have been worn for specific ritual occasions and often appears in depictions of military victories.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Egypt
Accession Number
4160-D3
Department
Antiquities
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Physical description
Model of a royal head with the royal headdress and uraeus. The features are well executed with distinctly softer modelling around the nose and mouth, a feature indicative of the Ptolemaic Period. The facial features are quite worn and the back of the headdress, from the ears, has broken away.