The family group of the Theban governor Amenemheb

The family group of the Theban governor Amenemheb is a remarkable monument of post-Amarna art. Amenemheb is represented embraced by his wife Taisennefret (at the left) and his mother Kal (at the right). He wears a long shirt with low-cut neck and wide pursed sleeves and an apron reaching his ankles; the apron is girded by a wide ribbon with its fringed end lying on his knees. he wears a long wig parted in the middle, its flaps reaching his breast; natural hair is shown on the forehead dropped from under the wig. Both Taisennefret and Kal wear the same long pleated dresses, wide collars with pendants and elaborate long wigs consisting of numerous braids; the wigs are crowned by lotus wreaths, natural hair parted in the middle is seen on the foreheads. The chair is treated realistically, a soft cushion deflated by the weight of the bodies is unique.
On the garment of Amenemheb there is a vertical column of hieroglyphs (inscription A); inscriptions B and C are placed on the laps of the women. The back of the statue forms a kind of rectangular "stela" with two vertical columns in the centre (inscription D) and one column along the right and the left edge (inscriptions F, F).
The shapes of the wigs are characteristic of the post-Amarna epoch, from Tutankhamun down to the beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty. The round and somewhat flat faces as well as wrinkles at the necks testify to the same date. The statue comes from the tomb A.8 at Dira Abu el-Naga.


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