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

Striding Figure

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

Description

Quartzite, 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 striding male figure in formal Old Kingdom pose, carved from quartzite with carefully rendered facial features and minimal draped linen garment, representing high-status identity typical of early Egyptian statuary.

This is a finely executed Old Kingdom striding figure carved from light tan quartzite. The figure adopts the canonical Egyptian pose with the left leg advanced and arms at the sides, a compositional formula that persists throughout pharaonic Egypt. The carving demonstrates meticulous attention to anatomical detail: the musculature is clearly defined, with linear modeling of the chest and torso. The figure wears a simple shendyt (linen skirt) with a triangular lappet front, consistent with Old Kingdom male dress conventions. The face is remarkable for its refined modeling—the eyes are wide-set and carefully proportioned, the nose straight and well-defined, and the mouth shows subtle modeling. The hair is rendered as a closely-fitted cap with a regular grid pattern suggesting a wig, a standard element of formal Old Kingdom portraiture. The statue shows the characteristic cubic form and block-like quality typical of Fourth-Fifth Dynasty work, with the figure emerging from a substantial back pillar that provided structural support. Some surface areas show brown staining or oxidation, suggesting age and burial.

royal Old Kingdom (Fourth-Fifth Dynasty, c. 2600-2350 BCE) good
Materials quartzitetraces of paint

Connections

Found at Elkab

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q29385739 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 62.200 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 543903 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.