Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 102-103. (Budapest, 2005)

ZOLTÁN HORVÁTH: A unique servant statue in the Egyptian Collection

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The corpus of inscribed model writing boards has been assembled to serve as referential data. It is claimed to be neither complete, nor exhaustive. The author is deeply indebted to the following persons for providing images of the boards and all the data requested: Christiane Ziegler and Catherine Bridonneau (Paris, Louvre), Luc Limme and Dominique Hoornaert (Brussels, Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire), Mogens Jorgensen (Copenhagen, Glyptotek), Bettina Schmitz and Barbara Magen (Hildesheim, Pelizaeus Museum), and Helen Whitehouse (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum). Thanks are offered also to H-W. Fischer-Elfert (Ägyptisches Museum der Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig), Helen McDonald (Chicago, Oriental Institute Museum), Judit Mészáros (Budapest, Sándor Ferenczi Society), Judit Geskó (Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts), Peter Manuelian and Yvonne Markowitz (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts) and László Török (Archaeological Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Siences) for various assistance. NOTES: 1 The history of the object will be explored in detail below. Photographs of objects in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest by Dénes Józsa. Inv. no. 51.2200, see A. Dobrovits, "Une statuette de serviteur égyptienne au Musée des BeauxArts de Budapest," Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 1 (1947), 5-8. Since then a number of other servant statues have been acquired, see E. Haeffner, "Une nouvelle statuette de serviteur de Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts," Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 3 (1949), 7-9, (inv. no. 51.2201); L. Kákosy, "Les nouvelles statuettes de serviteurs égyptiennes du Musée des BeauxArts," Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 8 (1956), 3-11 (inv. nos. 51.240, 51.320, 51.3323 35); id., "Nouvelles statuettes de serviteurs dans la collection égyptienne," Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 14 (1959), 3-9 (inv. nos. 57.6-9); Cf. I. Nagy, The Egyptian Collection, Budapest 1999, 24-25, fig. 9. Four statuettes purchased from István Rudnyánszki in 1984 are still unpublished (inv. nos. 84.157-158, 84.160-161). ' Contra Dobrovits 1947, 5, both arms have been attached with a dowel. 4 Only traces of dark red paint have been preserved, e.g., on the belly. For the practice of masking the joints with plaster that is painted over, see J. Sliwa, Studies in Ancient Egyptian Handicraft: Wood-working, Cracow 1975, 51; J. Harvey, "Old Kingdom Wooden Statues: Stylistic Dating Criteria," in Vart de VAncient Empire égyptien, eds. Ch. Ziegler and N. Palayret, Paris 1999, 360. 5 Extensive use of plaster is in evidence on the left cheek. Cf. Sliwa 1975, 55. For a more detailed description of the statuette, see Dobrovits 1947, 5. 6 The only reference to the fact that the wooden tablet originally belonged to the statue can be