The reunification of Egypt under Mentuhotep II ushered in a new sense of
security throughout the country and established Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, an
era that was to become a golden age for artistic and literary creation and a truly
revolutionary period in regard to religion and royal ideology. The art of the
Middle Kingdom betrays a wide range of visual uses of the past and, although
the Memphite traditions of the Old Kingdom were briefly renewed, the kings
of the 11th Dynasty tended to favor the Theban traditions they had developed
during the First Intermediate Period.
This life-size seated statue of the king Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II (names meaning: «The Lord of the rudder is Ra» and «Montu is satisfied») considered the reunifier of Egypt after the First Intermediate Period and the first king of the Middle Kingdom was discovered wrapped in fine linen in 1900 by Howard Carter inside the subterranean chamber of the mortuary complex of this king at Deir el Bahari (Thebes West). The king is represented seated on a cubic throne, wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt a short white cloak associated with the jubilee festival with the divine beard, the arms crossed and the hands that originally held the royal insignia, the crook, and the flail. The skin of the statue is painted in black color connected with the god Osiris with whom the king is identified.
Title: Seated statue of the King Mentuhotp II
Inventory number Main number: 41.2.10a Collection The Met Museum
Reign: Dynasty 11, Reign of Mentuhotep II
Date: 2051–2000 BC
DESCRIPTION
Object name/Title Seated statue of the King Mentuhotp II
Description/Features
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Dimensions Height 138 cm
Medium Painted Sandstone
PLACES AND DATES
Place of Discovery Thebes West, Deir el-Bahari, Mortuary Temple of Mentuhotep II
Period Middle Kingdom - 11th Dynasty
