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| Photo Marc Chartier |
Une récente visite au Museum of Fine Arts de Boston (USA) m'a permis d'y photographier le buste de Ankh Haef : voir les deux clichés ci-dessus et ci-dessous.
Voici comment ce chef-d’œuvre est décrit par le Bulletin du Musée (vol. XLI, n° 246, décembre 1943) :
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| Photo Marc Chartier |
"The most convincing example of individualized
portraiture in the Pyramid Age is the painted lime-
stoneand plaster bust of Ankh-haef (...). This unique masterpiece is remarkable for several
reasons. The subject was of the highest rank, had
the largest tomb in the royal family cemetery at Giza,
and the inscriptions on it tell us that he was the
“eldest son of the king’s body” (probably Cheops,
builder of the Great Pyramid), and that he held the
highest administrative offices in the kingdom, those
of Vizier and “Overseer of All Works of the King.”
It is clear that he was an important member of the
immediate royal circle with the best sculptors of the
court at his command. The bust is exceptional
both in form and material. It is neither a “reserve
head” nor was it ever part of a complete statue, and
we know of no other busts in the round like it. The
technique also is unusual, for the figure is carved out
of fine white limestone and completely covered with
a layer of plaster of Paris in which the finer modelling of the surfaces has been executed. This was
doubtless done while the plaster coating was still
wet, and the whole figure was then painted with
the brick-red color normally used to represent the
flesh of men. This red color was even laid over
the closely cropped hair, a quite abnormal pro-
cedure, and only the eyes appear to have been
white with dark pupils. But what is most note-worthy about this unique head is its utter lack of
convention and the startling realism of its modelling.
The magnificent shoulders, neck, and skull reflect
keen observation of nature and a thorough grasp of
the structure beneath the surface. The realistic
rendering of the rather small eyes is in marked contrast to normal Egyptian practice, and the careful
modelling of the face, the muscles round the mouth,
and the pouches under the eyes give evidence of
minute observation of the living model. In the
writer‘s view the bust of Ankh-haef is the supreme
example of realistic portraiture which has survived
from ancient Egypt, alike for its freedom from con-
vention and for its perfection of execution"
