Egyptian Statue / Akhenaten's mother statue fragment replica of Queen Tiye - Tutankhamun's Grandmother

Queen Tiye statue fragment and book docket


Dimensions of statue fragment including stand - Height - 14.5 cm / 5 -3/4 inches

Square base - 6.3 cm x 6.3 cm / 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches

Made of a limestone and quartzite composition stone with carefully hand painted details replicating tones of the original fragment. It is mounted on a felt lined base and responds very well to overhead lighting. A simple desk lamp has been used in these photos and the contours of the face are the most striking feature of this particular representation of Queen Tiye.



BACKGROUND INFORMATION

On offer here for the collector of Amarna era artworks is a rare depiction of Queen Tiye, one of the great personalities of the ancient world and the great royal wife of Amenhotep III. In addition a book docket containing the name of the Queen will be discussed further below.

The statue fragment

The influence of the revolutionary Amarna art style is quite evident in this piece showing a clear departure from her earlier representations.

Queen Tiye toured Amarna in year 12 of Akhenaten's reign and this piece perhaps, was one of the last images made for her while she was still alive. She died not long after her visit.

The down turned lips are the greatest signature of Queen Tiye showing a world weary disdain in later portraits.

It is a fabulous piece and the angle of the neck indicates it could possibly have been part of the decoration of a chair. (see the example of the Princess Sitamun chair from Yuya and Thuya's tomb) It could also have been part of a harp's decoration as portraits are often shown on the base curve of surviving harp examples and in tomb reliefs and paintings.

The choice of the white 'Khat' headdress worn by King and Queen during this period is present here. It must have been a comparatively lightweight cloth construction compared with some of the more complex crowns worn in ceremonial circumstances.

On the brow of this Khat can be seen a small depression that marks where an ancient uraeus. would have been attached. The uraeus was the protective cobra worn by Kings, Queens and the gods.

Tiye's book docket

The Moringa tree.
Reign of Amenhotep III 18th dynasty

Dimensions including stand :-
Height - 8.6 cm / 3-3/8 inches
Width - 5 cm / 2 inches

Made of a limestone and quartzite composition stone the docket has an aged blue patina with darker blue highlighting the incised glyphs.

On offer here for the first time is a rare and unusual item. It is a replica of an ancient device used for labelling books or chests of literary tablets in the document halls and libraries of Egypt.
Dockets or plates as they are known today were in use from early dynastic times when they were attached to chests or pots to describe at a glance what was contained within.
Later in history when papyrus scroll books numbered in the thousands in individual libraries, it was necessary to label the rolled up scroll with a docket like this one.

This particular example is a little more fancy and significant than most for it contains an intriguing inscription from the reign of Amenhotep III whose name appears in one of two cartouches. The other encircled name is that of his beloved Queen Tiye.
The lost book that this inorganic docket belonged to states that it was the book of the Moringa tree.

Experts can only surmise what the content of the lost book was. Perhaps it was a story, as trees feature prominently in Egyptian mythology or a medicinal synopsis of the tree's properties or how to grow it and when it flowered or bore fruit.

The full inscription translation is as follows :-

Moringa tree

"Beloved of Ptah, the king of the two lands, the good god Amenhotep III (Neb Maat Ra - which itself means possessor of the Maat of Ra the sun).... may he be given life; the wife of the king, Tiye, may she live."