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IMPORTANT PAIR OF EGYPTIAN OLD KINGDOM LIMESTONE SUNK RELIEFS FOR NYANHKNESUT Each carved with a representation of this dignitary with the heiroglyphs for his name above. At left he strides, dressed in a loincloth with triangular apron and short tiered wig, holding a flail in his right hand, his left hand raised to his breast, touching a bat pendant, symbol of Hathor, which is suspended from a chain around his neck. On the right he syrides wearing the same loincloth but with a smooth wig and the sash of a priest reader. Ex collection of Jacob Hirsch, ca. 1920. Early 6th Dynasty, ca. 2323-2291 BC H. 63.5 cm x 24.8 cm; H. 61.5 x L. 27.5 cm. Art of the Ancient World, 2011, no. 155 BPPG01 SOLD |
| The ruins of the Mastaba of Nyankhnesut, located in the northwest of the surrounding wall of Sekhemkhet in Saqqarah, was discovered in 1917. Some 60 reliefs are now in private and public collections (Cleveland Museum of Art). For two similar reliefs from this tomb see: Carol A.R. Andrews and J. van Dijk, Objects for Eternity, Mainz, 2006, pp. 38-41, no. 1.24. More than twenty metres long, the mastaba is made up of a main hall and five rooms. Reliefs represent Nyankhnesut dressed in the different costumes of his offices; he was among others the superior of the priests readers, sem-priest, supervisor of the secrets of the sky, grand prophet of Héliopolis. |
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