Thursday, March 17, 2011

"The Starving of Saqqara", Real or Fake?

This interesting article is from Past Horizons and contains a video to help in looking at this 67cm limestone statue collected by Vincent and Olga Diniacopoulos in the first half of the twentieth century. The statue has been at Concordia University in Montreal since 1999 and studied by experts from many institutions including the Royal Ontario Museum and the British Museum.

There is doubt by some people that the statue is fake while others believe it to be real. Hard to say as it is very unusual with nothing like it known in Egyptian art.

3 comments:

Geoff Carter said...

I cannot see that the word 'fake' is appropriate, as it is unique and idiosyncratic, and clearly not an imitation of any known artifact. Fakes should at least resemble something authentic.

Timothy Reid said...

I agree Geoff I do not think the object is fake but a genuine artifact out of it's proper context which to me appears a product of a culture much further south than Egypt, definitely African though.

I cannot think of an Egyptian statue with the mouth open. The statues name is probably misleading.

I am however reminded that part of the decorative program of King Unas' causeway at Saqqara included reliefs of starving Bedouin and that this statue may belong to part of that kings mortuary complex? Though I doubt it!

Geoff Carter said...

I agree about it coming from further south. and now Zahi has gone, it is safe to point out that there were slaves in Egypt!
I think what is wrong is the material; It would look ok if it was made of wood, a much rarer material in Egypt than in more equatorial parts of Africa.