Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · statue

Early Block Statue

Source of record: Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Object Label: Developed in the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty, the block statue was probably the most significant and long-lasting artistic innovation of its time. The form did not prove immediately popular—only fifty-six Middle Kingdom examples are known—but in each succeeding period it became more common. By the Late Period (Twenty-sixth through Thirty-first Dynasties), block statues were the most prevalent sculptural type. Nearly one thousand examples are known. Caption: Early Block Statue, ca. 1836–1759 B.C.E.. Granite, 26 3/8 in. (67 cm) base: 17 1/2 x 3 3/8 x 13 3/8 in. (44.5 x 8.5 x 34 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 36.617. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06

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 seated stone statue depicting an individual with a headdress.

The image shows a stone statue in a seated position, with a robust and simplistic form. The figure has a headdress, common in representations of officials or individuals of importance. The style is consistent with Egyptian funerary portraiture, focusing on form and presence rather than intricate detail. The surface appears worn, suggesting significant age.

funerary Middle Kingdom fragmentary
Materials limestone

Connections

Found at Egypt
Materials Limestone

Cross-references (2)

  • BKM-Accession 36.617 tier-2
  • BKM-Object 3399 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.