Ka statue of king Hor

The Ka statue of king Hor dates to the Thirteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt around 1750 BC. It is now on display in the Egyptian Museum[1] in Cairo and regarded as one of the major works of Egyptian art.

Statue of king Hor
The statue as found in the tomb

The statue was excavated in 1894 in the tomb of king Hor that was found by a team of excavators under the direction of Jacques de Morgan. The tomb is located close to the pyramid of Amenemhat III at Dahshur.[2] The statue proper is 135 cm high. With base and ka-sign on the head, it is 170 cm high. The statue is made of wood, that was once covered with a thin layer of stucco that is gone today. The king is shown naked but there are traces on the wood, belonging to a belt. The statue might once have been adorned with a kilt. Around the neck the king bears a broad collar. The statue once was holding a staff and a scepter. On the head he bears today a Ka-sign. That was found next to the statue within a naos. The statue was found in the king's tomb within a wooden naos that was lying on the back side. The statue there also on the back. The wooden naos was once partly adorned with gold foil and hieroglyphic inscriptions presenting the king's names, but these are today lost. Ancient Egyptians believed that they have several types of souls or spirits. The Ka was the most important one and the statue evidently shows the king as his Ka. Dorothea Arnold observed that many offerings were found around the statue. She wonders whether the statue was once made for the king's cult temple. However the king reigned only very briefly; the temple was never built and the statue was placed into the tomb chamber.[3]

As an important work of art, the statue appears in many art histories of Ancient Egypt.[4] W. Stevenson Smith sees in the figure an idealized naturalism[5], as other works of royal sculpture dating to about the late Twelfth Dynasty show often an elderly face, while that of Hor is idealized young.

References
  1. Museum numbers: JE 30948, CG 259, http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=14835
  2. Jacques de Morgan: Fouilles a Dahchour, mars-juin, 1894, Vienna, 1895, 91-93, pls. 33-35. Available online.
  3. Dorothea Arnold: Statues in Their Settings, Encountering the Divine, in: Adela Oppehnehim, Dorothea Arnold, Dieter Arnold Kei Yamamoto (editors): Ancient Egypt Transformed, The Middle Kingdom, New York 2015, ISBN 9781588395641, p. 17 the book online
  4. For example: K. Lange, M. Hirmer: Egypt, Architecture, Sculpture, Painting in Three Towusand Years (third revised edition), London 1961, pp. 313, pls. 112-113; Mohamed Saleh, Hourig Sourouzian: The Egyptian Museum Cairo, Official Catalogue, Mainz am Rhein 1987, ISBN 3805309422, no. 117
  5. W. Stevenson Smith: The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, revised with additions bt William Kelly Simpson, Harmondswoth, New York 1981, ISBN 0140561145, p. 179
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