Royal Portraits of the Twelfth Dynasty

provincials who time and time again saved their ancient land from ruin and injected new vigor into a civilization grown tired and an art grown smug and empty with the passing centuries. The new dynasty established its seat of government near Memphis, a center which still clung to the serene artistic traditions of the Old Kingdom, dead and gone for over two hundred years. Although the newcomers were impressed by the dignity and technical perfection of the works of the Memphite artists, they were not altogether satisfied with them. Thus we find in the Middle Kingdom, side by side with statues, reliefs, and paintings which might have been produced in the Fourth or Fifth Dynasty, others which depart from the dictates of ancient tradition and ancient taste and exhibit a new tenseness of spirit, a new preoccupation with lively minor incident, and a new and at times merciless realism. Nowhere is this tendency more apparent than in the extraordinary series of royal portraits produced by the court sculptors of the Twelfth Dynasty. These record with searching accuracy not only the facial characteristics of each king, seen at a specific moment in his life's span, but also something of his mood and of his underlying character. It is an eloquent testimonial to these ancient kings that, even when the mask of convention is removed and they are revealed to us as human beings, they lose nothing of the majesty and dignity inseparably associated with the pharaonic office. During the last forty years the Museum has acquired, one by one, eleven such portraits, sculptured in the round or, in three instances, carved in relief. Some of these are well known to students of Egyptian art and have been published and illustrated many times. Others, anonymously labeled "Portrait of a King of the Twelfth Dynasty," have received little attention, and one, acquired in 1945, has only recently been placed on exhibition (ill. p. 122). Since the men portrayed were all members of one family-father and son in direct succession -we should expect and do, in fact, find considerable resemblance in the faces of the series. All betray the heritage of a Nubian ancestress and of intermarriage with women of mixed negro and bedawin blood from the upper reaches of the Nile. The most striking feature that they have in common is the strong bony structure of the faces, especially the high, prominent cheekbones and heavy brows. The ears are consistently huge-a marked family characteristic. The eyes tend to be heavy-lidded and pouchy, the mouths full, protruding, and sullen. The expression is nearly always grave, pensive, and at times melancholy. Strength, intelligence, cynicism, weariness, and disdain are written in the faces of these men whose lives were marked by struggles against marauding tribes on the boundaries of Egypt, powerful and ambitious local governors within the country, and treacherous inmates of the royal palace. One of the earliest and most interesting of the series is a small royal head in limestone found near the pyramid of Amun-em-het I at Lisht and undoubtedly a portrait of the king himself (ill. p. 120). The face is distinctly "oriental" in appearance, flat and very broad across the cheekbones, but tapering to a small and rather shallow chin. The mouth, wide and full, is set low in the face and is characterized by a peculiar double curve of the lips. The eyes