Illustrative model — an approximation, not a scan of the original object.
c. 2055 – 2004 BCE
Seated Statue of Mentuhotep II
Eleventh Dynasty.
- Material
- Painted sandstone
- Dimensions
- Height c. 138 cm
- Findspot
- Bab el-Hosan, forecourt of Mentuhotep II’s temple, Deir el-Bahari
- Discovery
- Uncovered by Howard Carter in 1900 in a chamber beneath the temple forecourt.
- Held by
- Egyptian Museum, Cairo
- Inventory number
- JE 36195
The king sits wearing the Red Crown and a short white robe, arms crossed on his chest, his skin painted black.
The short robe is associated with the royal sed-festival, and the black skin and crossed arms with Osiris, regeneration and fertility.
Certainty: Established
The statue was found in 1900 in the Bab el-Hosan, a chamber beneath the forecourt of Mentuhotep II’s temple at Deir el-Bahari.
- Egyptian Museum, Cairo “Seated statue of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, inventory JE 36195” egyptianmuseumcairo.eg
Certainty: Probable
The black skin is interpreted symbolically, linked to Osiris and regeneration, rather than as a realistic depiction.
Scholarly note: A common scholarly reading: in Egyptian art black is the colour of fertile silt and rebirth.
- Egyptian Museum, Cairo “Seated statue of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, inventory JE 36195” egyptianmuseumcairo.eg
- Ian Shaw (ed.) (2000) “The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt” Oxford University Press