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Head of an official (The Josephson Head)

Egyptian
Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Senwosret III
1878–1841 B.C.

Medium/Technique Quartzite
Dimensions Width x height x depth: 24 x 18.5 x 21 cm (9 7/16 x 7 5/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
Width x height x depth (base): 16.5 x 16 x 14 cm (6 1/2 x 6 5/16 x 5 1/2 in.)
Credit Line Partial gift of Magda Saleh and Jack A. Josephson and Museum purchase with funds donated by the Florence E. and Horace L. Mayer Funds, Norma Jean and Stanford Calderwood Discretionary Fund, Norma Jean Calderwood Acquisition Fund, Marilyn M. Simpson Fund, Otis Norcross Fund, Helen and Alice Colburn Fund, William E. Nickerson Fund, Egyptian Curator's Fund, Frederick Brown Fund, Elizabeth Marie Paramino Fund in memory of John F. Paramino, Boston Sculptor, Morris and Louise Rosenthal Fund, Arthur Tracy Cabot Fund, Walter and Celia Gilbert Acquisition Fund, Marshall H. Gould Fund, Arthur Mason Knapp Fund, John Wheelock Elliot and John Morse Elliot Fund, Miguel and Barbara de Bragança Fund, Brian J. Brille Acquisition Fund, Barbara W. and Joanne A. Herman Fund, MFA Senior Associates and MFA Associates Fund for Egyptian Acquisitions, and by exchange from an anonymous gift
Accession Number2003.244
ClassificationsSculpture

DescriptionReddish brown quartzite head of an official, with distinctive features of late dynasty 12, including large ears, heavily-lidded and sunken eyes, furrowed brow, hollow cheeks and downcurved mouth. Nose broken.
ProvenanceBy 1948, Khawam Brothers, Cairo [see note 1]. 1950s, Maguid Sameda (dealer; b. 1900), Cairo and Lucerne; sold by or transferred from Sameda to Ernst E. Kofler (dealer), Lucerne; by 1984, sold by Kofler to Lucien Viola, L'Ibis Gallery, New York; 1984, sold by L'Ibis Gallery to Jack A. Josephson, New York; 2003, partial gift of and partial sale by Jack Josephson to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 21, 2003)

NOTES:
[1] According to Jack A. Josephson, "Art History: Does it Have a Role in Egyptology?," Göttinger Miszellen 258 (2019): 85, the head was photographed at Khawam Brothers in 1948 by John Cooney, curator from the Brooklyn Museum.