Digital Giza | Unfinished gneiss statuette of Menkaure

Object(s) photograph: Site: Giza; view: Menkaure valley temple

Unfinished gneiss seated statuette of Menkaure; fifth step of work, ready for surfacing, base highly polished; good condition. [1908 no. 18 = published no. 35 = 08-7-13]

ID: MFAB_11.732
Alternate IDs: MFAB_11.732; 11.732
Department: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Classification: Sculpture
Period: Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Menkaure
Title: Unfinished gneiss statuette of Menkaure
Medium: Anorthosite gneiss
Dimensions: Height x width x depth: 36 x 16 x 23.2 cm (14 3/16 x 6 5/16 x 9 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Provenance: Menkaure Valley Temple (MVT / room D = corridor III 4, N end)
Bibliography: Freed, Rita E., Lawrence M. Berman, and Denise M. Doxey. Arts of Ancient Egypt. MFA Highlights. Boston: MFA Publications, 2003, p. 82. Grzymski, Krzysztof. "Royal Statuary." In Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, p. 52. Hery, François-Xavier. "L'"inachevé" à la salle souterraine de la pyramide de Kheops." Sesto Congresso Internazionale di Egittologia. Atti, Volume I. Turin, 1993, pp. 260-261. Manuelian, Peter Der. "Excavating the Old Kingdom. The Giza Necropolis and Other Mastaba Fields." In Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, p. 145. Markowitz, Yvonne J., Joyce L. Haynes, and Rita E. Freed. Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids: Highlights from the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Expedition. Boston: MFA Publications, 2002, p. 60, cat. 8c. Reisner, George A. Mycerinus: The Temples of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931, pp. 36, 113 (misidentified as 08-7-3 on p. 113).
Notes: This object was excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, but was not recorded in any object register book. 1908: Excavated by the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; 1911: assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of Egypt. (Accession date: March 2, 1911)
Remarks: Registration number obtained from publication; no registration records available for 1908.