Striding Statue of Minnefer (c. 2377–2311 BCE): Art, History and Details

Striding Statue of Minnefer (c. 2377–2311 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The base of this statue is inscribed with the name and title of the supervisor of palace attendants, Minnefer. He is represented as young and athletic, hands at his sides and left foot forward, the typical striding pose for male figures. To make the statue more lifelike, the flesh areas were originally painted reddish brown, the wig black, and the kilt white. This was one of four statues of Minnefer that were found in the serdab (sealed statue chamber) of his ruined mastaba (tomb) in the cemetery west of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Most Old Kingdom private statues were concealed in this way. The statue was regarded as more than just a representation. Once the proper rites had been performed, it functioned as a substitute for the deceased individual and could partake of food offerings necessary for the survival of his ka, or vital spirit.

Object facts

• Title: Striding Statue of Minnefer
• Date: c. 2377–2311 BCE
• Culture: Egypt, Giza, Old Kingdom (2647–2124 BCE), Dynasty 5
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: painted limestone
• Dimensions: Overall: 53.8 x 14.4 x 23.4 cm (21 3/16 x 5 11/16 x 9 3/16 in.)
• Collection: Egypt - Old Kingdom
• Department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Accession number: 1948.420

A detail from the museum

In the Old Kingdom, wigs like the one Minnefer wears here were used to demonstrate higher social status.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Reisner, George A. "Note on objects assigned to the museum by the Egyptian government." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 36, no. 214 (1938): 26-32.
• Smith, William Stevenson, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting in the Old Kingdom. London: Pub. on behalf of the Museum of fine arts, Boston, U.S.A., by the Oxford University Press, G. Cumberlege (1946): 75 (2427, 4)
• Comstock, Helen. "The Connoisseur in America: An Egyptian Statuette of the Old Kingdom." The Connoisseur 124 (December 1949): p. 114-120, reproduced on p. 120.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.