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Lot Essay
This fragment from an architrave is carved in crisp, sunken relief and depicts one individual, Idu, wearing three types of wigs. In each vignette, he strides to the right and holds a long walking stick in his left hand. The first and last depiction show him holding a sekhem-scepter in his right hand that is alternately shown behind and in front of his triangular kilt. In addition to three columns of vertical hieroglyphic text, each of which provide Idu’s rank and title, these three depictions of Idu serve both as idealized portraits and as hieroglyphic determinatives for his name. Traces of a fourth, leftmost column provide a further title beginning “Overseer,” while traces of Idu’s name may be noticed again below. On the far right edge, a double vertical line indicates that a barely preserved fifth column of text was almost certainly oriented in the opposing direction, heralding a series of figures of Idu facing left (not preserved on this block). The carving of this relief is in the “Second Style,” associated with the 6th Dynasty (see “A Second Style in Egyptian Relief of the Old Kingdom,” in S. Thompson and P. Der Manuelian, eds., Egypt and Beyond: Studies Presented to Leonard H. Lesko, pp. 49-90).
It has been suggested by W.K. Simpson that on architrave reliefs and “pseudo-group” statues depicting the same individual wearing various wigs, the subject is shown at various stages through his official career (see Mastabas of the Western Cemetery, pt. I, Giza Mastabas, vol. IV, p. 26). However, as no signs of progressive aging are shown here, Idu is uniformly presented at the height of his youth. Architraves with multiple standing figures are frequent toward the end of the Old Kingdom. For other examples, see Y. Harpur, Decoration in Egyptian Tombs of the Old Kingdom: Studies in Orientation and Scene Content, pp. 44-45.
A close parallel is observed on similar blocks from the 6th Dynasty mastaba of Vizier Idu/Nefer (G5550), excavated by H. Junker in 1914, now in the Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim (see pp. 99-103 in Corpus Antiquitatem Aegyptiacarum: Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim, pt. 3). Although the present example is unlikely to belong to the same individual, given the difference in titles and his alternating use of a second name, it is possible that this architrave may instead belong to the son of the vizier, an official known as Idu II, whose coffin and burial equipment were found in the underground remains of a now-destroyed mastaba built onto the face of G5550 (see Junker, Giza VIII, pp. 66-108). Idu II bears the title of “Palace-Official, First Under the King” on the well-preserved wooden coffin found in his tomb, a title also seen on this relief. The mummy, burial equipment, and identity of Idu II have formed the basis for a detailed multi-author study, based on the majority of finds from the tomb now in Hildesheim (see B. Schmitz, Untersuchungen zu Idu II, Giza: Ein interdisziplinäres Projekt).
It has been suggested by W.K. Simpson that on architrave reliefs and “pseudo-group” statues depicting the same individual wearing various wigs, the subject is shown at various stages through his official career (see Mastabas of the Western Cemetery, pt. I, Giza Mastabas, vol. IV, p. 26). However, as no signs of progressive aging are shown here, Idu is uniformly presented at the height of his youth. Architraves with multiple standing figures are frequent toward the end of the Old Kingdom. For other examples, see Y. Harpur, Decoration in Egyptian Tombs of the Old Kingdom: Studies in Orientation and Scene Content, pp. 44-45.
A close parallel is observed on similar blocks from the 6th Dynasty mastaba of Vizier Idu/Nefer (G5550), excavated by H. Junker in 1914, now in the Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim (see pp. 99-103 in Corpus Antiquitatem Aegyptiacarum: Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim, pt. 3). Although the present example is unlikely to belong to the same individual, given the difference in titles and his alternating use of a second name, it is possible that this architrave may instead belong to the son of the vizier, an official known as Idu II, whose coffin and burial equipment were found in the underground remains of a now-destroyed mastaba built onto the face of G5550 (see Junker, Giza VIII, pp. 66-108). Idu II bears the title of “Palace-Official, First Under the King” on the well-preserved wooden coffin found in his tomb, a title also seen on this relief. The mummy, burial equipment, and identity of Idu II have formed the basis for a detailed multi-author study, based on the majority of finds from the tomb now in Hildesheim (see B. Schmitz, Untersuchungen zu Idu II, Giza: Ein interdisziplinäres Projekt).