The Statuette of

Neferefre Neferefre Isi (; also known as Raneferef, Ranefer and in Ancient Greek, Greek as , ) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He was most likely the eldest son of pharaoh Nefe ...

was found in several fragments by

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

n excavations in 1984–85 in the remains of the pyramid temple of the king at

Abusir Abusir ( ar, ابو صير ; Egyptian ''pr wsjr'' cop, ⲃⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲓ ' "the House or Temple of Osiris"; grc, Βούσιρις) is the name given to an Egyptian archaeological locality – specifically, an extensive necropolis of ...

. It was once about 34 cm high. The statuette is now on display in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

(JE 98171). Due to the good preservation of the face and the well preserved colours it is one of the most famous examples of Egyptian royal sculpture dating to the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

Details

The statue is made of pink

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and was found in several fragments but the remains are not complete. It shows the king sitting on a throne. The latter is mostly missing. The king wears a short wig. At his forehead there is now a hole for holding an

Uraeus The Uraeus (), or Ouraeus (Ancient Greek: , ; Egyptian: ', "rearing cobra"), ''(plural: Uraei)'' is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt. Sym ...

, that is lost today. The hair is painted black, above the lips is painted a black mustache. The nose is partly broken. The king had a ceremonial beard that is lost today. On his neck is sitting a falcon spreading its wings over the back of the king's head. In both crawls it is holding a

Shen ring __NOTOC__ Shen may refer to: * Shen (Chinese religion) (神), a central word in Chinese philosophy, religion, and traditional Chinese medicine; term for god or spirit * Shen (clam-monster) (蜃), a shapeshifting Chinese dragon believed to create mi ...

. The king is shown bare-chested. In his right hand he is holding a mace. The left arm is mostly missing. The lower part of the body is mostly missing too. The well carved knees are preserved showing that he was wearing a shendit kilt. There is a fragment from the base with the remains of the right foot. On the base is carved the short inscription: ''the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferefre, for eternity''. There is finally a fragment from the back of the throne and one other, undecorated fragment of the base.

Discovery

The fragments were found at three places within the pyramid temple of Neferefre. Four of them were found in columned hall in the south west part of the temple. Three further fragments come from a long storage room, just south of this hall, two other fragments from a small room east of the hall.Verner: ''Abusir XXVIII, The Statues of Raneferef'', 116-117

Bibliography

Miroslav Verner Miroslav Verner (born October 31, 1941 in Brno) is a Czech egyptologist, who specializes in the history and archaeology of Ancient Egypt of the Old Kingdom and especially of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. Biography Verner was the director of the ...

: ''Abusir XXVIII, The Statues of Raneferef and the Royal Sculpture of the Fifth Dynasty'',

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

, Prague 2017,

References

Sculptures of ancient Egypt Fifth Dynasty of Egypt Egyptian Museum {{Egyptology-stub