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When I first looked at this statue,
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she gave me the impression that she was alive, more than most Egyptian statues do. Anyone
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who’s ever studied Egyptian art has probably learned that it is very static and
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formal, and there’s really not a lot of motion in it. And this
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is true if you’re talking about the formalized statues of kings that are made of stone.
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This is a statue made of wood. The paint is
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so beautifully preserved, and she has such a
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natural body, with very long hips and very
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long legs. She also has her
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arm up in a very natural fashion, touching the edge
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of the perfectly balanced basket on her head.
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She’s wearing jewelry.
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With her eyes wide open, she just looks gorgeous.
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She is young, she is beautiful, she is
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alluring. She has
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no lines in her face. She is
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at a time of life that we would all like to preserve for eternity.
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Her purpose is to bring sustenance to the deceased. In her right hand she holds
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a duck by the
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wings to keep it incapacitated. And in the basket
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itself, she holds various cuts of beef:
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an entire foreleg, which is the choicest cut; a cut of ribs; a joint; and various
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other kinds of meat. The estate that she represents
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would have actually provided real food, and a priest would have come to the tomb every day
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and offered the real food. But the Egyptians were very practical people and they undoubtedly
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realized that after a certain amount of time, this might not happen.
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So they provided other ways of the spirit to be able to survive.
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She’s like a giant hieroglyph which means, “to bring food to a tomb.”
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It shows an individual artist
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at their absolute best. They’ve captured her
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in a moment in time. She’s
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moving forward, perfectly balanced between her left and right foot,
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bringing offerings to the dead person to keep that
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person’s spirit alive. And so he continues to
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exist in a very real sense, because
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the statue itself seems to be alive.
