Statue of Yuny and Renenutet

“May everything that comes forth upon the offering table of [the god] . . . and all pure food that comes forth from the Great Enclosure [the temple complex at Heliopolis] be for the chief scribe, royal scribe of letters, Yuny, justified.”

Yuny was a Chief Royal Scribe and Physician during the reign of king Seti I, c.1294–1279 B.C. Although Yuny is not referred to as “physician” or “chief physician” on his monuments, he most likely followed in his father’s footsteps in that profession, as he did in the majority of his other positions. On another statue, he is referred to as “overseer of Sakhmet’s lay-priests,” indicating his medical background.

He and his wife Renenutet are most known for their limestone double seated statue, which is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City. However, Yuny was actually from a place in Egypt called Asyut, a place most notable today for having the largest Coptic Christian population in Egypt, with over half it’s residents being of the Christian faith. It is in Asyut where the statue of Yuny and his wife was discovered in 1913.

Renenutet was a singer of Amun Re, which means she likely took part in religious festivals and rituals. She is depicted in a luscious fine wig of ringlets and holding a Menat collar, as she embraces her husband Yuny, who is also elaborately dressed with a wig adorned upon his head.

Yuny’s wig is similar to the one he is seen wearing in a solo statue of himself holding a shrine to Osiris, where he is presented as having the title, “overseer of Sakhmet’s lay-priests”. This statue is also on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.