Brooklyn Museum

Amunhotep, Son of Nebiry

ca. 1426–1400 B.C.E.

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Object Label

The Egyptians valued learning and literacy above all other skills, including physical strength and military prowess. Men who mastered reading and writing were frequently represented as scribes: sitting cross-legged with inscribed papyrus rolls in their laps. Some examples, such as this one, show the subject with his head gently inclined as if reading the papyrus.

So-called scribe statues were first produced in the Fourth Dynasty (circa 2625–2500 B.C.E.). Originally only princes were permitted to appear in this form, but as access to schooling increased over time, scribe statues became relatively common. The subject of this sculpture, a man named Amunhotep, held several priestly and administrative offices

Caption

Amunhotep, Son of Nebiry, ca. 1426–1400 B.C.E.. Limestone, pigment, 25 3/8 × 14 5/16 × 14 3/8 in., 206 lb. (64.5 × 36.3 × 36.5 cm, 93.44kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.29E. Creative Commons-BY

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Amunhotep, Son of Nebiry

Date

ca. 1426–1400 B.C.E.

Dynasty

Dynasty 18

Period

New Kingdom

Geography

Reportedly from: Thebes, Egypt

Medium

Limestone, pigment

Classification

Sculpture

Dimensions

25 3/8 × 14 5/16 × 14 3/8 in., 206 lb. (64.5 × 36.3 × 36.5 cm, 93.44kg)

Credit Line

Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Accession Number

37.29E

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Frequent Art Questions

  • Why are the noses missing from some Egyptian sculptures?

    One very practical reason is that when a statue falls forward, the nose is the first point to hit the ground and it will snap off. There are also more complicated reasons. In some cases, scholars can see that the noses were broken off deliberately with tools. The ancient Egyptians believed tomb statues served as an eternal home for the deceased’s soul. Smashing the nose effectively “killed” the statue. A tomb robber or other enemy of the deceased might break the statue’s nose to destroy the soul and prevent the deceased from taking revenge.

  • I used to know the answer to this but have forgotten. Why are the bodies shown facing toward us and the head and feet sideways?

    When you see images like that, you're actually looking at multiple perspectives at once. The Ancient Egyptians would do this to communicate all of the most important aspects of an image/figure. In the case of people, they wanted to show both arms in action and, at the same time, the legs walking forward, and the face looking toward something else on the panel resulting in some strange body contortions.
    Ahl, so that the parts can all be shown in their best "light."
    Ancient Egyptian art frequently showed people in idealized forms, but you might notice of the some of the scribe statues, apply rolls of flab to an otherwise svelte frame as a way to demonstrate success and maturity as scribes were elite members of society.
    I did notice that and I was going to ask why they had a little pudge!
    You're very observant! It was basically a symbolic representation of age. Scribes were revered as some of the most learned in Ancient Egyptian society and it took them many years to achieve that status. Sometimes, men who were not scribes by trade would still have statues made that showed them seated this way to make themselves look scholarly. The Scribe Statue of Amunhotep, Son of Nebiry is an example of this.
    Where is that? Both busts of Isis have a small paunch, too, I noticed.
    Amunhotep is in the central "Orientation Gallery" within the Egyptian collection. He is a seated white limestone statue underneath the big ceiling mural. That might be to help illustrate her fertility as a mother goddess.
    I don't see a paunched belly on Amunhotep, but what are the lines on his chest.
    That's his sagging skin of old age. He's more wrinkly than paunchy.
    Ah, thanks. I had noticed a slight belly on Isis.
    In the case of Isis, the shape of her belly is common to many depictions of women and probably is seen as a differentiation between the shape of idealized men and women especially in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It also something that stems from a representation of fertility.
    Yes. Right as a representation of fertility
    Fertility was very important to the Ancient Egyptians and all of their contemporaries in the ancient world. Numerous symbols developed to allude to the idead.

  • Were scribes important?

    Scribes held high position in Egyptian society and their literacy was a valued skill which contributed to why they are are shown in a way that highlights their occupation.

  • Why are the nose often damaged in the Egyptian sculptures? Why would they make the nose then turn around and break it?

    Well the person who made the sculpture is often not the same person who defaces it. For example, a tomb robber might remove the nose of a statue to keep the person's soul from exacting revenge on them.
    It usually happens much later in the life of the statue. For example, it was popular to deface statues and depictions of unpopular or heretical rulers after their reign like Akhenaten or Hatshepsut.

  • Tell me more.

    This statue shows Amunhotep, son of Nebiry, with the typical accessories of a scribe, which show his intelligence despite not actually working as a scribe in his lifetime.
    You can see another sign of his importance in the lines on his chest, which show his age and wealth in a very stylized way.

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