Head of Wesirwer, Priest of Montu
Description
Object Label: The fragmentary inscription on the dorsal pillar of this head contains a rebus that reveals the owner's name—Wesirwer ("Osiris Is Great")—and part of his title. An inscription on a statue in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to which the head was originally attached (see photo) reveals that Wesirwer was a priest of the Theban god Montu. On the Cairo statue, Wesirwer holds figures of the Theban divine triad—Amun, king of the gods; Mut, his consort; and Khonsu, their child, a god of the moon. He sports an Achaemenid-, or Persian-, style garment, which had been introduced before Dynasty XXVII (circa 525–404 B.C.), a period of foreign occupation. The Brooklyn fragment belongs to a group of green-stone heads that combine both conventional and naturalistic facial details. Wesirwer's egg-shaped skull and almond eyes are standard elements of fourth-century works, but the serene gaze is a naturalizing element perhaps evocative of Wesirwer's piety. Caption: Head of Wesirwer, Priest of Montu, ca. 380–342 B.C.E.. Schist, 6 x 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (15.2 x 8.9 x 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 55.175. (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.
A carved stone sculptural head of an Egyptian priestly male, shown in three-quarter view with a wig and detailed facial features, mounted on a modern/unfinished base.
The image shows a smooth, gray stone sculpted head and neck of a male figure, presented in left-facing three-quarter view. The head has a rounded skull covered by a stylized wig (suggested by the contour and the side framing). The eyes are carved with heavy lids; the nose is prominent; the mouth is closed in a neutral expression with defined lips. Ears are modeled in relief. The chin and lower jaw are defined, and the neck transitions into a naturalistic collarless form. No visible inscription, cartouche, or text is present on the head or around the visible area. The object appears mounted on a light-colored rectangular plinth/base that looks like a separate display element rather than an integral ancient base. The stone surface shows minor chips/losses, especially around the lower right side of the neck/shoulder area in the photo. The catalogue materials are given as schist; the visible surface color and texture are consistent with a worked stone but the exact lithology cannot be confirmed from the photo alone.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 55.175 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3615 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.