Queen Ankhenesmeryre II with young Pepy II
Alabaster, Old Kingdom, Dyn. 6, ca 2288-2194 B.C.E.
Probably from Upper Egypt
Brooklyn #39.119, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

"Pepy II became king while still a child, around the age of six. This statuette shows him seated on the lap of his mother, Queen Ankhnes-meryre II. Although Pepy's back is carefully modeled, his mother's is flat, suggesting that when the sculpture was originally placed against a wall or column, the queen faced the viewer directly. Thus, she and not the king was the primary subject." (From Art For Eternity, by Fazzini, Romano and Cody, page 54)


Photos © Joan Ann Lansberry, May 2012-2016