Three Busts on a Capital
Description
Object Label: Many of the forgeries in this exhibition have Christian themes, probably because they were intended for American and European markets. The standing female figure here, for example, holds a cross. The way she holds it has no parallels in early Christian Egypt, however, nor does the omission of details on the back of her head and dress. Moreover, she has hair and eyes like those on other forgeries. The other two pieces here were carved in a poor quality stone not used in antiquity; they may be by the same hand. One appears to show Mary and the Christ child with Joseph. The figures are badly proportioned, and the plants draped along the arches above them make no sense. On the other piece, three heads appear, most implausibly, atop a column capital. Caption: Three Busts on a Capital, 20th century (probably). Nummulitic limestone, 9 1/4 x 16 9/16 x 3 7/8 in. (23.5 x 42 x 9.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 72.10. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
Relief carving showing three sculpted, human-headed busts arranged across a central capital-like form, with an open, fan-shaped element beneath their faces.
The object appears to be a rectangular stone relief. Three small busts (head-and-shoulders) face forward in a row: a left bust with a head covering, a central bust, and a right bust. Each bust has a stylized wig and facial features carved in low relief. Beneath the busts is a large, radiating, fan/leaf-like motif that spreads outward, suggesting the decorative upper element of a capital or support. The stone surface shows tool marks and weathering/pitting typical of limestone. No legible hieroglyphs, cartouches, or alphabetic scripts are visible in the provided image. The iconography is consistent with a decorative architectural relief rather than inscriptions-bearing text panels.
Connections
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 72.10 tier-2
- BKM-Object 98343 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- 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.