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Torso of King Achoris
Egyptian
Late Period, Dynasty 29, reign of Achoris
393–381 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Granodiorite
Dimensions
Overall: 111 cm, 315.7 kg (43 11/16 in., 696 lb.)
Case (Object bolted to wooden pedestal): 107.6 x 59.7 x 59.7 cm (42 3/8 x 23 1/2 x 23 1/2 in.)
Case (Object bolted to wooden pedestal): 107.6 x 59.7 x 59.7 cm (42 3/8 x 23 1/2 x 23 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Maria Antoinette Evans Fund
Accession Number29.732
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsSculpture
DescriptionThis magnificent sculpture fragment, one of few inscribed for King Achoris, is a wonderful combination of old and new. Enough remains of the torso and legs to show that the king was represented in the traditional striding pose for men, left foot forward, arms at his sides. What is new is the fleshiness of the body and the treatment of the anatomy, by which chest, rib cage, and abdomen are rendered as three separate areas, a convention known as tripartition. Although the head is lost, it probably closely resembled the Head of Nectanebo II in the Blue Crown.
The statue came to the United States during the American Civil War (1861–65), along with four other Egyptian sculptures now in the Museum. They were acquired by a Yankee sea captain who touched at Alexandria on his way home from a voyage to the Mediterranean. No doubt they were collected more for their sheer weight (as ballast) than for their artistic merit. The ship was captured by the Confederates and brought to New Orleans, and the statues were deposited at the customs house there. After the war they were purchased by the Yankee postmaster, who took them to his home in Lowell, Massachusetts. There they stood on his front lawn for sixty years before being acquired by the Museum.
The back-pillar inscription that provides the king’s titles and names is incomplete: “Horus: Great of heart, beloved of the Two Lands; Two Ladies: the Brave: Golden Horus: Who pacifies the gods; King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Khnummaatra Setepenbanebdjedet, the son of Re ...” What was likely to have been the lower portion of the statue, seen in 1842 in the courtyard of the Greek consul in Alexandria, is reported to have been inscribed on its back pillar with the remainder of the king’s titulary, picking up exactly where the Boston fragment leaves off: “the son of Re Achoris [beloved of] Atum lord of Iunu.” The present location of this fragment is unknown, so that it is impossible to verify the connection.
The statue came to the United States during the American Civil War (1861–65), along with four other Egyptian sculptures now in the Museum. They were acquired by a Yankee sea captain who touched at Alexandria on his way home from a voyage to the Mediterranean. No doubt they were collected more for their sheer weight (as ballast) than for their artistic merit. The ship was captured by the Confederates and brought to New Orleans, and the statues were deposited at the customs house there. After the war they were purchased by the Yankee postmaster, who took them to his home in Lowell, Massachusetts. There they stood on his front lawn for sixty years before being acquired by the Museum.
The back-pillar inscription that provides the king’s titles and names is incomplete: “Horus: Great of heart, beloved of the Two Lands; Two Ladies: the Brave: Golden Horus: Who pacifies the gods; King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Khnummaatra Setepenbanebdjedet, the son of Re ...” What was likely to have been the lower portion of the statue, seen in 1842 in the courtyard of the Greek consul in Alexandria, is reported to have been inscribed on its back pillar with the remainder of the king’s titulary, picking up exactly where the Boston fragment leaves off: “the son of Re Achoris [beloved of] Atum lord of Iunu.” The present location of this fragment is unknown, so that it is impossible to verify the connection.
ProvenanceProbably from Heliopolis (el-Matariya), Egypt [see note 1]. About 1860, probably shipped from Liverpool to New Orleans, taken by U.S. Customs, and put into a bonded warehouse [see note 2]; February 15, 1864, probably auctioned at the Customs House, New Orleans, to John Milton Grosvenor Parker (b. 1826 - d. 1888), New Orleans and Lowell, MA [see note 3]; by descent to his daughter, Katherine Parker (b. 1853 - d. 1930) and her husband, Edward Morton Tucke (b. 1840 -d. 1928), Lowell; to their son, Parker Tuck (Tucke) (b. 1890 - d. 1946), Lowell; 1929, sold by Parker Tuck to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 7, 1929)
NOTES:
[1] In 1842, the lower part of the sculpture (present location unknown) was recorded in the courtyard of the Greek consulate at Alexandria. Its inscription mentions "Atum, lord of Heliopolis." See Dows Dunham, "Three Inscribed Statues in Boston," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 15 (1929): 166.
[2] In February 1864, five cases of "ancient Egyptian relics and sculpture" were auctioned at the Customs House after being in a bonded warehouse for at least three years. They had come into New Orleans from Liverpool on the R. B. Sumner, a schooner from Newburyport. See notices in the Daily True Delta, November 28, 1863, p. 3; December 11, 1863, p. 4; and February 13, 1864, p. 5.
[3] MFA accession nos. 29.728-29.733 were first mentioned to the MFA in a letter from Edward Hildreth Tucke (b. 1887 - d. 1911), son of Edward Morton Tucke, on March 29, 1906. He explained that his grandfather purchased the sculptures (with the assistance of his brother-in-law, Gen. Benjamin F. Butler) after they had been seized and stored at the Customs House in New Orleans during the Civil War. "When the war was over he brought them to his home on Tenth Street, Lowell, and had them placed on the front lawn around the piazza, where they have been ever since."
NOTES:
[1] In 1842, the lower part of the sculpture (present location unknown) was recorded in the courtyard of the Greek consulate at Alexandria. Its inscription mentions "Atum, lord of Heliopolis." See Dows Dunham, "Three Inscribed Statues in Boston," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 15 (1929): 166.
[2] In February 1864, five cases of "ancient Egyptian relics and sculpture" were auctioned at the Customs House after being in a bonded warehouse for at least three years. They had come into New Orleans from Liverpool on the R. B. Sumner, a schooner from Newburyport. See notices in the Daily True Delta, November 28, 1863, p. 3; December 11, 1863, p. 4; and February 13, 1864, p. 5.
[3] MFA accession nos. 29.728-29.733 were first mentioned to the MFA in a letter from Edward Hildreth Tucke (b. 1887 - d. 1911), son of Edward Morton Tucke, on March 29, 1906. He explained that his grandfather purchased the sculptures (with the assistance of his brother-in-law, Gen. Benjamin F. Butler) after they had been seized and stored at the Customs House in New Orleans during the Civil War. "When the war was over he brought them to his home on Tenth Street, Lowell, and had them placed on the front lawn around the piazza, where they have been ever since."