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Jul 19, 2007

Statue of Amenemhat III

c. 1859–1814 BCE

Egypt, Middle Kingdom (2040–1648 BCE), Dynasty 12, reign of Amenemhat III

(1860–1814 BCE)

Granodiorite

Overall: 51.2 x 19.8 x 18.4 cm (20 3/16 x 7 13/16 x 7 1/4 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1960.56

Location

234 Textile Gallery

Did you know?

The first pyramid Amenemhat III attempted to build, the so-called Black Pyramid, had major construction flaws and had to be abandoned when it started to collapse.

Description

Even though this statue of a king is uninscribed, its distinctive features identify it without any doubt as a portrait of Amenemhat III. The heavy brows, prominent cheekbones, hollow cheeks, jutting lower jaw, and tightly bunched muscles at the corners of the mouth make a strikingly realistic impression. Not realistic, however, are the king’s supersized ears. Instead, they symbolize the ruler’s willingness to hear the prayers of his people. If this image had been carved in relief, the king’s hands would have been uplifted in worship. Here, however, to prevent the breakage of projecting limbs, the ruler’s hands are pressed flat against the front his kilt, a portion of which is looped over his belt.

Provenance

-1960

Mrs. Paul Mallon, Paris, France, Sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1960-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh

Citations

Lee, Sherman E. "Amenemhat III." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 47, no. 9 (1960) p. 205-11 www.jstor.org

The Art Quarterly. 23 (Autumn 1960) p. 301

Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” October 29, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

Peck, William, and Francis W. Robinson. Life and Art in Ancient Egypt Detroit Institute of Arts: 9.7.-1.9.1963. 1963. p. 8, cat. no. 10

Cleveland Museum of Art, and Martha L. Carter. Egyptian Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: The Museum, 1963. p. 6, pl. 6 archive.org

Lee, Sherman E. "The Art Museum and Antiquity" Apollo 11, no. 22 (December 1963) p. 436, fig. 2

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 2 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 2 archive.org

Porter, Bertha, Rosalind L. B. Moss, Ethel W. Burney, Jaromir Malék, Diana Magee, Elizabeth Miles, Elizabeth Fleming, and Alison Hobby. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings. Vol. II. Theban Temples 1972. p. 286

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 13 archive.org

Kozloff, Arielle P. "Guessing the Unseen from the Seen." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 9 (1979) p. 345, fig. 23 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 2 archive.org

Cleveland Museum of Art, and Arielle P. Kozloff. An Introduction to the Art of Egypt in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: [The Museum], 1983. p. 7

Málek, Jaromír. Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land. 1993. p. 102

Berman, Lawrence M. "La Collection Egyptienne du Cleveland Museum of Art" Bulletin de la Société française d'égyptologie (BSFE) 134 (October 1995) p. 24, fig. 5

Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Mentioned: p. 155-157; Reproduced: p. 155-157, color p. 48

Berman, Lawrence M., "New Look at Ancient Egypt", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 01, January 1999 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6 archive.org

May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. no. 4, p. 9, 116

Vandenbeusch, Marie, Aude Semat, and Margaret Maitland. Pharaoh: King of Ancient Egypt. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art ; London : The British Museum, 2016. Mentioned: p. 77, 158; Reproduced: p. 76, fig. 39

Lisby, Darnell-Jamal. “Egyptomania: Fashion and the funeral.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 2 (2023): 4-7. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 7.

"October at the CMA.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 3 (2023): 17. Reproduced: P. 17.

Exhibition history

Life and Art in Ancient Egypt. Detroit Institute of Arts, (9 July-1 September 1963).

Pharaohs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from the Louvre. TheCleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh (11 February 1996 - 14 April 1996)

Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).

Supplementary Exhibition to Tutankhamun Treasures. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (organizer) (July 9-September 1, 1963).

Senusret III. Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille, Lille, France (organizer) (October 9, 2014-January 26, 2015).

Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 12, 2015-January 24, 2016).

Pharaoh: King of Ancient Egypt. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 13-June 12, 2016).

Egyptomania: Fashion's Conflicted Obsession. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 1, 2023-January 28, 2024).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Statue of Amenemhat III|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.56|year=c. 1859–1814 BCE|access-date=06 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Statue of Amenemhat III

Statue of Amenemhat III

Egypt, Middle Kingdom (2040–1648 BCE), Dynasty 12, reign of Amenemhat III

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