Museum Object Number: 32-42-40
Image Number: 36626, 36627
WE publish this month [Plate XIV] a photograph, recently received from Mr. Rowe, of the limestone relief, believed to represent King Snefru, found by the Coxe Expedition at Meydûm, Egypt, and referred to in our last number. The stone, about four inches high, is the upper part of a so-called ‘sculptor’s trial-piece,’ that is, an exercise by a sculptor’s apprentice. On it is depicted a man, wearing a long, curved beard and, over a close-fitting wig, a headdress of plumes and horns somewhat similar to that seen in the Sinai relief of Snefru; in one hand he grasps the was-sceptre. Taken as it stands, with beard and sceptre of types more appropriate to divine than to royal personages, the relief might well represent one of the gods Socharis or Ptah-Tanen (who have headdresses similar to this) at almost any period; but Mr. Rowe reads the name ‘Snefru’ on the right-hand side of the stone, and he further is certain, from the position in which the latter was found in the quarry used for building Snefru’s pyramid, that it is contemporary with that king. In these circumstances it may he supposed that the relief represents Snefru in the guise of a god; and the piece, although without artistic importance, will then possess considerable archeological interest.
B.G.