Through the Eras

Visual Artssion at least 25 statues of himself. They represent a greatvariety of poses, demonstrating that artists in this reignbegan to exercise their creativity in the statues they madeof officials as well as coping with the artistic problemscreated by portraying a female queen. They showedSenenmut with Hatshepsut’s young daughter, Neferure,on his lap. This statue imitates the poses assumed byQueen Ankhnes-meryre II and Pepi II in one statuette.Artists also created a cube statue of Senenmut that includedNeferure’s head emerging from the top of thecube. The Brooklyn Senenmut comes from a temple ofthe god Montu. Senenmut kneels, holding a divinesymbol. The symbol includes a sun disk enclosed in cowhorns, a cobra, and a pair of human arms ending in flathands that face the viewer. This symbol probably is ahieroglyphic writing of Hatshepsut’s name. Thus Senenmutis offering her name to the god Montu. This is oneof the earliest temple statues that portray a non-royalindividual making such an important offering to a god.Previously only a king would be shown in such a pose.Senenmut’s face is nearly identical to Hatshepsut’s face,though again they were not relatives. His eyebrows arearched in the typical manner for this period. His eyesdip slightly at the inner corner. His nose curves slightlyin an aquiline shape. His lips are pursed. Officials wantedto be represented with faces that resembled the royal portraitbecause they hoped to become divine, as the kingwas, in the next world. A statue’s face in the guise of theking helped an official achieve this goal.AHMOSE-RURU. Other officials commissioned traditionalstatues during the reigns of Hatshepsut andThutmose III. Ahmose-Ruru, who lived in ThutmoseIII’s reign, commissioned a statue in a cloak, a style thathad been popular in the Twelfth Dynasty. For example,the “Statuette of a Cloaked Official” from the earlier periodshows a very similar pose. Here Ahmose-Ruru sitson a block-like throne. Only his hands and feet emergefrom the garment. His left hand rests on the right sideof his chest. His right hand is curved into a fist and restson his lap. The hands seem too large for his body. Aninscription down the center of his cloak identifies himas a high official. His face, however, resembles his ruler’sface or his fellow official Senenmut’s face. The archedeyebrows are a defining characteristic of the period. Hiseye also dips slightly at the inner corner. He wears a longcosmetic line that parallels the end of his eyebrows. Hisnose is aquiline and his lips are pursed. Ahmose-Rurualso wears the short, square, chin beard worn by highofficials. This face places the statue squarely in the earlyEighteenth Dynasty, but it is also clearly inspired by thetraditions of the Middle Kingdom.Amenhotep III in blue crown. BROOKLYN MUSEUM OF ART, 48.28,CHARLES EDWIN WILBOUR FUND. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 297