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Nefu, Inspector of the Treasury

CultureEgyptian
Dateca. 2455-2345 B.C.E.
MediumLimestone with paint
DimensionsOverall: 17 1/2 × 6 7/8 × 10 inches (44.45 × 17.45 × 25.4 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number48-47
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 103
Collections
Gallery Label
Nefu's large wig, necklace and bracelets suggest prosperity-so too does his heavy, middle-aged face. (Surprisingly, his thin moustache resembles those of 1930s movie stars.) Nefu appears particularly lively: his eyes are wide open and attentive, his head leans slightly forward, his torso is taut and upright. This is appropriate: set in a chapel over his tomb chamber, the statue served as a temporary vessel for his vital life force. Given the sculpture's primarily magical function, there is little reason to assume it accurately portrays Nefu.
Provenance

Found by Harvard University and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, at Tomb G7946b, Giza, Egypt, 1931-1948;

 

Purchased from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1948.
Published References

William Stevenson Smith, A History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting (New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), 76, (G 7946, Reg. No. 31-1-6). 

 

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 12.

 

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 17.

 

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 21.

 

Bertha Porter et al., Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings, vol. 3, Memphis, pt. 1, Abû Rawâsh to Abûsîr (Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1974), 207.

 

Peter der Manuelian and George Andrew Reisner, “George Andrew Reisner on Archaeological Photography,” Journal of American Research Center in Egypt 29 (1992): 15, fig. 24.  

 

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 110.

 

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 6, fig. 8.

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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