Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · statue

Nikare as a scribe

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Granite, paint

AI image analysis claude-haiku-4-5

Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

A limestone or granite sculpture depicting a seated figure in cross-legged pose, identified as Nikare in his scribal role, wearing a short wig and exhibiting the idealized features characteristic of Old Kingdom Egyptian statuary.

This is a three-dimensional sculpted portrait of a seated male figure in the classic cross-legged scribal pose, where the subject sits with legs folded and both arms resting on the thighs. The figure wears a short, thick wig with visible horizontal striations rendered in relief, framing a well-defined face with naturalistic proportions. The face displays the serene, forward-gazing expression typical of Old Kingdom portraiture, with clearly defined eyes, nose, and mouth. The torso is depicted bare-chested in the conventional manner of Egyptian male figures, showing attentive modeling of musculature. The figure rests on a rectangular base plinth. The overall composition and pose strongly align with the "scribe" or "block statue" tradition of Old Kingdom private statuary, suggesting a person of administrative or clerical rank. The carving demonstrates skilled execution and careful attention to anatomical detail.

daily life Old Kingdom, likely 4th-5th Dynasty good
Materials granitestonepossible traces of pigment

Connections

Found at Saqqara
Materials StoneGranite

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116252307 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 48.67 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 543900 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.