A Canopic Jar Stopper or a Head from a Statue?

Last Thursday, as part of my Egypt Centre course on the Funerary Culture of Ancient Egypt, we examined a number of objects relating to the theme of mummification. While preparing the objects earlier that morning, I made a last minute decision to change a canopic jar stopper of Qebehsenuef (EC388) to one identified as Imsety (W1024). Canopic jars were used for housing the internal organs of the deceased and were named after the four sons of the god Horus. Imsety, who takes the form of a man, looks after the intestines. While the Egypt Centre has a number of head stoppers, we do not have a complete set of jars (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Canopic jars of Pakherenkhonsu. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (28.3.56a, b)

The head is carved out of limestone and has been very finely polished, measuring 10cm in height. It has large, well-modelled ears that seem to hold back the bulging curvature of the wig. The mouth, which is not quite straight, has a slight smile. The eyes slant down towards the nose, while no eyebrows were ever carved. Additionally, the figure has a short beard on the end of his chin (figs 2–3).

Fig. 2: Front view of W1024

Fig. 3: Side view of W1024

While these features are commonly found on canopic jars, particularly those dating to the Eighteenth Dynasty, there are a number of issues that suggested to me that it was something else. Firstly, the base is lacking the plug element that would have inserted into the jar to prevent that lid from falling off. Instead, the entire base is covered in chisel marks (fig. 4). Given that the base and plug would have only had a depth of several centimetres, it seems strange that this would have been purposely removed. Additionally, around the edges of the base, there is a slight outwards curvature or lip in a few places, thus indicating that the head was originally attached to something. This curvature would not fit with canopic jars, which suggests that W1024 is instead the head of a statue!

Fig. 4: Base of W1024

If W1024 is the head of a limestone statue then it seems likely that it was part of a block statue. Block statues were one of the most common types of private sculpture from the Middle Kingdom through the Ptolemaic Period. More than 350 of these statues were discovered in the Karnak Cachette, which was excavated during the early twentieth century. These statues are characterised by the squatting posture of the owner, who is shown with the knees drawn up in front of the chest and the arms crossed above them. They served to represent non-royal persons in a general context of solar beliefs. The Egypt Centre is fortunate to have a complete limestone block statue (W921) in the collection, which belonged to a priest from Saft el-Henna named Aba, son of Ramose. This statue, which was published by Tony Leahy, can be dated to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. Based on the proportions of W1024, the complete block statue would have measured approximately 50cm in height.

Fig. 5: Block statue of Aba (W921)

W1024 originates from the collection of Robert de Rustafjaell (1859–1943), which was sold by Sotheby's between 19–21 December 1906. While the head is illustrated on plate 6 of the catalogue (fig. 6), the exact lot number is not so clear. One possibility is that it was lot 223, which was purchased by Harry Stow for the sum of £4/4. The catalogue entry describes the lot as an "upper part of a basalt figure of a man holding two long vases (Plate VI, 26); eleven heads from small statuettes, in varied material; a fragmentary head of Osiris from a large figure, finely worked in a close-grained marble: and three other pieces." Stow was a well-known and frequent buyer for Henry Wellcome, with at least three of the objects from this lot housed in the Egypt Centre.

Fig. 6: Plate VI of the 1906 de Rustafjaell catalogue with the head as number 27.

Further research is needed on this head in order to determine the exact dating. As always, we welcome further discussion and comments on this piece!

Bibliography:
Bierbrier, M. L. (2012) Who Was Who in Egyptology. London: The Egypt Exploration Society. 4th edition.
Bothmer, B. (1994) ‘Block statues of Dynasty XXV’. In Hommages à Jean Leclant 2: Nubie, Soudan, Ethiopie, ed. C. Berger, G. Clerc and N. Grimal. Bibliothèque d’étude 106. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale. 61–68.
Dodson, A. (1994) The Canopic Equipment of Kings of Egypt. London: Kegan Paul International.

Leahy, A. (1990) ‘A Late Period Block Statuette from Saft el-Henna’. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 76: 194–196.

Schulz, R. (1992) Die Entwicklung und Bedeutung des kuboiden Statuentypus: Eine Untersuchung zu den sogenannten “Würfelhockern”. Hildesheimer Ägyptologische Beiträge 33–34. Hildesheim: Gerstenberg. 

Schulz, R. (2011) ‘Block Statue’. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Version 1, September 2011. 1–10. Available from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3f23c0q9.

Sotheby, W. H. (1906) Catalogue of the Collection of Egyptian Antiquities Formed in Egypt, by R. de Rustafjaell, Esq. Queen’s Gate, S. W. London: Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge.