Head of a King Possibly Mentuhotep III in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2008

Head of a King, Possibly Mentuhotep III
Late Dynasty 11, possibly reign of Mentuhotep III (ca. 2000-1988 BC)
Limestone

Accession # 66.99.3

The features of this head are closely matched by a relief from Armant, near Thebes, which is housed in the Brooklyn Museum of Art and is inscribed for Mentuhotep III, son and successor of the great Mentuhotep II. The head is a notable work from the late phase of a style that was first initiated during the later Old Kingdom and has been nicknamed "second style" by Egyptologists. The sculptor conceived the image in a predominately stylized manner. The mouth– circumscribed by the typical relief line– can be understood as smiling, but the expression is not far removed from a masklike grimace; the shapes of the ears are totally abstracted; and the elongated, small eyes are set unnaturally high in the face, almost eliminating any indication of a forehead. Remarkably, however, the overall impression is not only one of a highly sophisticated work of art but also of appealing beauty.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.