Statue of a Priest of Amun
Description
Object Label: The statue of a priest of Amun shown here has an idealizing face in the style of the fourth century B.C. yet wears a Twenty-sixth Dynasty version of an Old Kingdom wig and is based typologically on Twenty-sixth Dynasty sculptures inspired by much earlier works. Despite these archaizing tendencies, it also displays a Thirtieth Dynasty innovation in statuary: the depiction of gods (here Amun, Mut, and Khonsu) on the top of the back pillar. Idealization is equally apparent in the two heads and the small statuette of Hor. The latter has some distinction. It is the earliest reasonably well dated sculpture with an egg-shaped cranium, an artistic detail that became common in the fourth century B.C. Caption: Statue of a Priest of Amun, 381–362 B.C.E.. Diorite, 20 1/16 x 6 1/4 x 5 1/2 in., 30 lb. (51 x 15.9 x 14 cm, 13.61kg) Mount: 6 x 6 x 6 in. (15.2 x 15.2 x 15.2 cm) height of object on block: 26 1/4 in. (66.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 52.89. (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 dark stone Egyptian statue shows a standing, nude male figure with a tripartite wig and stylized facial features.
The image depicts a front-facing statue of a man in a standing pose, arms held close to the body with hands hanging. The figure is nude from the shoulders to the hips, with a belt-like element indicated around the waist/abdomen. A patterned, rounded headdress/wig covers the head (with a grid-like texture), and the face is carved with a calm, forward gaze, defined eyebrows, and a straight nose and mouth. The body appears monochrome and polished with visible surface wear and small losses. No readable inscription is visible on the body, base, or background in this photograph. No clear attributes (e.g., specific offerings or divine emblems) are distinguishable from the image alone, though the overall iconography is consistent with priestly statues in Late Period style. The statue is photographed against a plain light background; a small support or stand is visible beneath the feet.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 52.89 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3574 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.