Tchenenet

Tchenenet, a candy maker
Pink granite, 17 3/4 in high (45.5cm)
Old Kingdom, Dynasties 4-5, ca. 2630-2400 BCE
Giza (?)
Purchased in London, 1933, OIM 14054
Photo ©Joan Ann Lansberry, 2010

(From museum info card):
"The inscription on this statue of a man identified as Tcheneneti, records that he served as a confectioner (candy maker). Another monument of Tcheneneti from a later period in his career indicates that he was eventually promoted to the position of 'Overseer of Confectioners.'"

(From _Ancient Egypt: Treasures of the Oriental Institute_, by Emily Teeter, page 18):
"Granite, from which this statue is carved, was quarried at Aswan on the southern border of Egypt. It was favored for private statuary in Dynasty 3 through the early part of Dynasty 5, and thereafter it was largely replaced by limestone. Granite was one of the most laborious stones to work, for the copper tools used by the artists were ineffective against it, and it had to be worked with pounders of heavier stone, such as dolorite. Ironically, granite could not be finished as finely as the more commonly used limestone, and hence granite statues tend to be coarse compared to those of softer stones."