The
statue of King Montuhotep II Neb hept Rea
Material:
It is
made out of painted sandstone.
Dating:
This
statue is dating back to the reign of King Nebhepetrea
Montuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty.
Place of discovery:
This
statue was discovered accidentally when Howard Carter was riding his horse and
the legs of his horse fell into the shaft leading to the chamber where the
statue was buried, and both the horse and Carter fell in to the chamber.
The
chamber was part of the beautiful terraced mortuary temple of Montuhotep built
at el Deir el Bahari on the West Bank of Thebes, to the south, left, of the
famous mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut.
It is
believed that Senmut, the architect of Hatshepsut, got the idea of building
Hatshepsut's temple from that earlier temple.
Up
till now this area is known in Arabic as Bab el Hosan or "Gate of
the Horse"
Historical background about the King:
This
is the statue of king Montuhotep II the strongest ruler of 11th
Dynasty and the founder of the Middle Kingdom. His cartouche together with king
Narmer and Ahmose has a larger size in the Ramaseum temple as
they were the three kings who came from the South and unified Upper and Lower
Egypt.
He
ruled for 51 years, 41 as king of Upper and Lower Egypt after he controlled the
region of Ahnasia.
He
sent campaigns against the Nubian, Libyans tribes of the west desert and the
tribes of the north east desert;
Royal and Titles:
• 
MnTw-Htp
Montuhotep: means god of war Montu is satisfied.
This
name was used by many kings of this dynasty as they fought a lot and needed the
support of god Montu.
• 
nb
Hpt ra Neb
hept Rea:
the lord the rudder of Rea.
This name was
found on a lot of his monuments.
• King
Montuhotep II started giving his SA-Ra
name more importance and declining the use of the good god NTr Nfr,
as a way to be related more to the people he ruled as a semi divine god and not
a full divinity.
Description:
• The
king is represented seated on a royal stool with no back pillar to support the
back of the statue, which shows the skill of the artist.
• The
king is wearing a knee length jubilee mantle or Heb Sed dress. He is
also wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt.
• The
king is represented wearing the curved false beard symbol of dead kings who
turned into god Osiris after their death that is why he is having crossed arms
like god Osiris.
• Both
hands were found hollow, it is believed that the statue held the golden crook
and flail symbols of royalty and of god Osiris, but both were lost or stolen.
• The
statue is coloured black not because the king was black in colour but this colour
was symbol of death, resurrection, mummification and the colour of god Osiris as
the god of the under world.
• The
face shows the face of a very determined king, with his eyes showing a high
lighted pupil with the white color surrounding it.
• His
legs is represented massive in size either because it is a symbol of power and
strength as the power of the king was always in his feet, that is why we always
find the enemies of Egypt were under his feet or because he was suffering from
elephantites disease but this was not the fact since this disease affect the
entire body. It was also suggested that the artist was not very skillful in
representing the feet, although the fact that he represented the statue with a
free standing back denies this suggestion.
• This
statue was found wrapped in linen just like a mummy. That is why it is believed
that his statue acted as a cenotaph.
• The
facial representation of the king features suggests a strong provincial style
in sculpturing.
Art:
• Art
of the Old Kingdom is known of its high quality and idealism specially when it
was representing the divine king, but the art declined a lot under the First Intermediate
Period.
• With
the beginning of the Middle Kingdom the artists were trying to get back some of
the splendor of the Old Kingdom art.
•
Although the statue is made of sandstone which is not to be compared in
strength and quality with the other kinds of stone used by kings of the Old
Kingdom like granite, schist or diorite, yet the artist was a very skillful one.
Colorus:
The
colours in ancient Egypt were always brought from natural materials and
substance, the Egyptians can find in their environment.
Example:
White:
white limestone.
Red:
red ochre.
Green:
green ochre.
Black:
black raisin or obsidian.
