Nude figure of the Seal Bearer Tjetji

Tjetji is shown in the classic pose of a standing official, with his left leg advanced, a long staff in his left hand, and a sekhem scepter (now lost) held horizontally in his right hand.

The arms of this statue were made separately and pegged to the body, and the feet tenoned into a separate base. He has a long, slender torso and limbs with little indication of musculature; a somewhat overlarge head and very large eyes; a face that tapers to a narrow jaw, with a broad mouth curved in a tense-looking smile, set off by folds descending from the nostrils.

The staff and scepter were also separate pieces, inserted through the holes in Tjetji’s hands. The figure was once fully painted according to the usual conventions, with the body dark red, the hair and nipples black, and the finger- and toenails white. The eyes are inlaid with white limestone and obsidian, set in copper frames. The top of the plinth is incised with hieroglyphic text.

Stone statues of men in this pose have back pillars, negative space between the limbs, and, as substitutes for the slender implements, rolled cloths, the button-like ends of which are barely visible within their fists.

Since wooden statues were free of these conventions, they tend to look less rigid and more natural. But Tjetji’s statue, the work of a fine sculptor, has an unusually lively, alert quality that makes it one of the finest expressions of the style of the late Old Kingdom.