Egypt, Late Period, XNUMXth century BC. J.-C.
Basalt
H_ 24 cm
Origin
Old French collection from the 50s
Ex-Artcurial sale of 24/06/2008
Paris, private collection
Exhibition
The Twilight of the Pharaohs, masterpieces of the last dynasties Jacquemart André Museum,
March 23 to July 23, 2012
Publication
Catalog of the Twilight of the Pharaohs exhibition, curated by Olivier Perdu, p. 88, No. 29
AN IMPORTANT EGYPTIAN BASALT EGG-HEAD, 4TH CENTURY BC
9,5 in. High. The subject is an entirely bald, young man with smooth skin and smiling eyes. The man
has an oval face, a gently sloping forehead that curves smoothly into a higly dome of the cranium and
a large projecting occiput. The head is broadest at the dome of the cranium, narrowing toward the
rounded chin so that its contour in frontal view has the shape of an egg. The lips are full and the smile
is almost enigmatic. The almond-shaped eyes are subtly overlined suggesting kohl lines.
The triangle-shaped nose is thin and straight, broader at the end suggested by large nostrils.
The ears are finely sculpted suggesting a realistic anatomy. Starting at the occiput a back pillar.
Neck fractures suggest an a posteriori action to adapt the head to a base. The original 50's base being
a large square block of marble has been changed since. Bothmer suggests that the idealized group
of the egg-head type was an allusion through the infantile proportions, to rejuvenation and rebirth.
The head presents a completely shaven juvenile male face whose ovoid shape of the skull stretches exaggeratedly, presenting perfectly regular contours, without revealing the bumps and hollows observable in reality.
One can however observe here, a subtle concave depression at the level of the temples and the cheeks suggesting a larger surface at the level of the forehead and the skull and a narrowing at the level of the rounded chin. The lips are full and display an almost enigmatic smile. The eyes are large and almond-shaped, and the contours finely highlighted by a thin bead stretching at the level of the outer corner of the eye – thus marking a line of kohl (?). The ears are sculpted in detail and partly visible in frontal view.
This type called egg-head in relation to the particular shape of the skull appears during the First Persian Domination, to spread under the last indigenous dynasties and at the beginning of the Ptolemaic period(1).
According to RS Bianchi and S.Wood it will influence the development of the Roman republican portrait(2).
Examples that still have traces
of inscriptions tell us that they were officials or members of the clergy – which classifies them in a category called Ptolemaic administrators(3). Despite the generalized appearance induced by
the idealization of the physiognomic features, the high quality of execution makes it a work of great beauty. The polishing of the stone rendered by the brilliance of the surface accentuates this idea of ideal beauty.
1 O.Perdu, The Twilight of the Pharaohs, 27-32, Set of egg-heads, Jacquemart-André Museum Exhibition
2 RSBianchi, The Egg-Heads: One Type of Generic Portrait from the Egyptian Late Period and S.Wood in JARCE vol.24,
Isis, Eggheads and Roman Portraiture, 1987, pp.123-141. About the second group of the "egg-heads" type with more features
marked.
3 RSBianchi, ibid, p. 150
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