King Montuhotep II

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 11^th 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 11^th 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.