This Egyptian fragment was produced as a preliminary sketch for a relief sculpture.

The sketch is for a portrait of a member of the royal family from the Amarna, where it was discovered. The Amarna Period was named after its capital, the village Amarna, and was led by King Akhenaten. Akhenaten had the birth name Amenhotep, and his name change is said to have marked a radical break in both art and religion. Amarna was dedicated to the worship of the sun-god as the visible disk, Aten. This small 'practice piece' joins Atkinson Art Gallery's Egyptology collection, which includes other items excavated on the same digs by Flanders Petrie and Howard Carter in the early 1890s.

Provenance

Excavated at Amarna by Flinders Petrie 1891-92; collection of Lord Amherst; sold Metropolitan Museum, New York; deaccessioned 1957, collection of Robert J Molnar; sold through Arte Primitivo 2013 to Helios Gallery, Bath; sold to Charles Ede Ltd. London.


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