Unknown couple statuette

This seated double statuette, made from painted limestone, is 28cm tall and depicts an Ancient Egyptian couple dating from the middle of the 18th Dynasty. Unfortunately, the piece is uninscribed, despite the sides having “scalloped motifs, edged on two sides with a decorative border of rectangles.”

The statuette (EA2301) was acquired by the British Museum in 1843 and is still on display at the museum in London, England.

The piece is in typical Ancient Egyptian fashion, showcasing a couple, most likely husband and wife, seated together for eternity. This style of portraiture dates back to the early Old Kingdom period. However, it was not just husband and wives depicted this way, mother and son, mother and daughter, among other representations have been found. So whereas it is most likely this statue was to depict a husband and wife, it can not be certain. Alas, the British Museum, where this piece now resides, presents the couple as such.

Unknown couple statuette — A **British Museum Curator writes:** “Such small pair statues were the focal point for cult in the tomb-chapel; the lower part of a statue of similar scale is still visible in the tomb of Menna at Thebes (TT69).

A very similar statue, in scale, form and style, is Museo Egizio 3057 (Turin), of a couple named Pawer and Mut (see Donadoni Roveri, Museo Egizio, p.34).”

The pair are dressed in a high class fashion with elaborate wigs. The woman’s wig is parted in the middle, but the man’s is missing a parting. The pair are both dressed in fine whitewashed linen clothing. The man’s chest is bare, he wears a shendyt (kilt), and the woman wears a strapped dress and collar (necklace). The pair’s skin tone matches the Ancient Egyptian artistic cannon, with the man painted in red pigment and the woman in a light yellow tone.

It could be possible that these statuettes would be inscribed upon purchase for tomb-chapels. Meaning, perhaps an artisan would make multiple funerary statues and sell them. This could explain the missing inscriptions.

Summary:
Uninscribed seated couple statuette
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1550-1292 B.C.
British Museum. EA2301