Trial Piece Worked on Both Sides
This carved flake of limestone provides a fascinating glimpse of the ancient artist at work. One side, by far the better, features four studies of heads. At the upper left is an Asiatic. He has a low forehead, a prominent nose, and a long, pointed beard. To his right is a Nubian wearing the short, round headdress and large loop earring that the Egyptians usually identified with this ethnic group. The bottom row presents images from within Egypt. At the left is a stock image of a king. To his right is another Egyptian, whose clean-shaven head immediately identifies him as a priest. The rathe...
Details
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- limestone
- Dimensions
- overall: height 0.344 m, width 0.24 m, depth 0.07 m
- Department
- Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Art Genome Taxonomy
9 tags
Subject Matter
-
Figure Studies Both · 99%
The museum describes four studies of heads on one side, and the image visibly shows four carved profile heads arranged in two rows.
-
Face Both · 99%
The visible face consists of four profile heads with clearly carved eyes, ears, noses, mouths, and necks.
Medium and Techniques
-
Sculpture Metadata · 99%
The Cleveland Museum of Art classifies the object as sculpture.
-
Carving Both · 99%
The object is described as a carved limestone flake, and the image shows shallow incised and raised relief carving across its face.
-
Relief Both · 98%
The heads are rendered in shallow relief on the surface of the limestone fragment.
Time Periods
-
Ancient Art Metadata · 99%
The object is dated c. 1391–1353 BCE, during Egypt’s New Kingdom, Dynasty 18.
Geographic Regions
-
Egyptian Art Metadata · 99%
The place of origin is identified as Egypt, probably Thebes.
Materials
-
Stone Metadata · 99%
The recorded medium is limestone, a stone material.
Cultural and Religious Styles
-
Ancient Egypt Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies the object as Egyptian and dates it to the reign of Amenhotep III.
Source & rights
Unknown artist. Trial Piece Worked on Both Sides. Cleveland Museum of Art.