Skip to main content

Head of alabaster statue of Menkaure

Object(s) photograph: Site: Giza; view: Menkaure valley temple

Head of alabaster statue of Menkaure (as prince); nose perfect, uraeus and beard broken and mended. [1908 no. 12 = published statue no. 23 = 08-7-21]

Details

  • ID
    MFAB_09.203
  • Department
    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • Classification
    Sculpture
  • Findspot
    Menkaure Valley Temple (MVT / room 2 = offering room)
  • Material
    Travertine (Egyptian alabaster)
  • Dimensions
    Height x width x depth: 29.2 x 19.6 x 21.9 cm (11 1/2 x 7 11/16 x 8 5/8 in.)
  • Credit Line
    Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Object Ownership Information
    MFA
  • Period
    Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Menkaure
  • Owner
    Menkaure
  • Notes
    This object was excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, but was not recorded in any object register book. 1908: Excavated by the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; 1909: assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the Egyptian government. (Accession Date: May 17, 1909)
  • Remarks
    Registration number obtained from publication; no registration records available for 1908.

Tombs and Monuments 1

Published Documents 12

Full Bibliography

  • Arnold, Dorothea. When the Pyramids were Built. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, p. 8, fig.1,

    Assmann, Jan. "Preservation and Presentation of Self in Ancient Egyptian Portraiture." In Peter Der Manuelian, ed., Studies in Honor of William Kelly Simpson 1. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1996, p. 63, fig. 11.

    Corteggiani, Jean-Pierre. Les Grandes Pyramides: Chronique d'un mythe. Paris: Gallimard, 2006, p. 80.

    Dunham, Dows. The Egyptian Department and its Excavations. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1958, pp. 40, 42, fig. 23.

    Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, pp. 274-276, cat. 70.

    Fay, Biri. "Royal Women as Represented in Sculpture during the Old Kingdom. Part II: Uninscribed Sculptures." In Christiane Ziegler, ed. L'art de l'ancien empire égyptien. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1999, pp. 103, 131, fig. 13.

    Friedman, Florence Dunn. "The Names of Menkaure." In Kamil O. Kuraszkiewicz, Edyta Kopp, and Daniel Takács, eds. 'The Perfection that Endures... ': Studies on Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology. Warsaw: Department of Egyptology - Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, 2018, p. 122; plate XXV.1.

    Grzymski, Krzysztof. "Royal Statuary." In Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, p. 54.

    Hawass, Zahi. "A Statue of Menkaure Found in Luxor." In Eva-Maria Engel, Vera Müller & Ulrich Hartung, eds. Zeichen aus dem Sand. Streiflichter aus Ägyptens Geschichte zu Ehren von Günter Dreyer. MENES 5. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz Verlag, 2008, p. 216.

    Manuelian, Peter Der. “March 1912: A Month in the Life of American Egyptologist George A. Reisner.” KMT 7, no. 2, Summer (1996), p. 70.

    Markowitz, Yvonne J., Joyce L. Haynes, and Rita E. Freed. Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids: Highlights from the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Expedition. Boston: MFA Publications, 2002, p. 58, cat. 6.

    Ranke, Hermann. The Art of Ancient Egypt: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Applied Art. Vienna: The Phaidon Press & London: G. Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1936, pl. 60.

    Reisner, George A. "The Harvard-University-Museum of Fine Arts Egyptian Expedition." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 9, No. 50 (April 1911), p. 13, unnumbered figs.

    Reisner, George A. Mycerinus: The Temples of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931, pp. 36, 112, pls. 52-53.

    Sanborn, Ashton. "New Installation of Egyptian Sculpture." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 23, No. 140 (December 1925), p. 72.

    Smith, William Stevenson. Ancient Egypt as Represented in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1960 (6th ed.), pp. 46, 51, fig. 27.

    Thomas, Nancy, ed. The American Discovery of Ancient Egypt. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1995, pp. 126-127, cat. 39.

    Unsigned. "The Dawn of Civilization in Egypt: Tracing the Culture of the Egyptians nearly to the Stone Age--Mummies Not of Ancient Origin--The Secret of the Sphinx Revealed." Science Conspectus 2, No. 3 (February 1912), p. 77.

People 1

Ancient People

  • Menkaure

    • Type Owner
    • Remarks Fifth king of Dynasty 4. Son of Khafre. Husband of Khamerernebti II. Builder of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Known two thousand years later by the Greeks as King Mycerinus.