Statuette of the official Bes

The inscription on the base of this statuette of the official Bes reads ‘Count and Prince, Companion of His Majesty’. Bes is portrayed sitting in a position that was widely used in the Old Kingdom (c. 2660–2180 BC), at the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC) and again by the officials, including this courtier, who served Psamtik I.

The statue is sculpted in fine-grained compact limestone that is similar to marble. The elegance of the figure’s stylized face, with its shy smile, contrasts beautifully with his solid limbs and torso, which is finely modelled to reveal protruding clavicles and a pronounced depression of the thorax.

The figure transmits a sense of great serenity and dignity that was characteristic of a period of harmony – the so-called Saite Renaissance – which witnessed a return to the original forms of Egypt’s glorious past.

Late Period, 26th Dynasty, ca. 664-525 BC. Compact limestone. Dimensions: height: 32.2 cm, width: 20.9 cm.

Provenance: MacGregor Collection. Acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian at the sale of the MacGregor Collection, Sotheby’s, London, 8 July 1922 (cat. 1628). Now in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon. Inv. 158