Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2007)
KATALIN ANNA KÓTHAY: A Defective Statuette from the Thirteenth Dynasty and the Sculptural Production of the Late Middle Kingdom
who probably did not know who would buy their products, were not bound so strictly to their clients' requirements. However, as the statuettes themselves prove, there was a limited selection of attitudes, gestures, garments and hairstyles from which they could choose in order to serve their buyers, and approximately the same variety applied in the case of statues made for the elites. However, as far as facial expressions are concerned, there seems to have been a slight difference between sculptures made for higher and lesser ranking clients during the Thirteenth Dynasty. Whereas certain traits, such as the heavy upper lids or high cheekbones are common, in the case of sculptures representing members of the elites, visages convey dignity and power, while lesser quality works often show rustic and low-class features. 42 This difference implies that with lesser quality statuettes sculptors intended to satisfy the special requirements of a particular stratum of society: in addition to copying sculptures commissioned by wealthy people, they may also have endeavoured to carve features characteristic of their lesser-ranking clients. However, it should also be remembered that pieces of small-scale statuary were typically products by less skilled artists. Hence in a number of cases the features of their statues were not, or not just, the result of conscious artistic devices, but of what they were capable of producing. Unfortunately, not much is known about these sculptors. Where and how were they trained? Where did they obtain the stone? Did they work in independent workshops, or were they attached to royal workshops but also working on private commissions? The statuettes carved by the sculptors may provide some clues to help answer these questions. The sculptors were able to procure hard stone, had the skill and the tools to carve with, and were familiar with the sets of poses, gestures and features used with high quality sculptures. Hence, even if not trained at royal workshops, they must have been associated in some way with masters attached to such royal workshops. Their ancestors could have been sculptors of royal workshops themselves who —with contemporary social changes and the growing demand for sculptures during the late Middle Kingdom 4—may have become independent artists and handed down their knowledge to their descendants. The following generations of these sculptors, then outside the milieu of royal workshops, also seem to have had relations with royal masters, since their products only differ in quality. These relations could have been realized both indirectly and directly: while style and iconographie elements could have been learnt by observation of good quality works, prominent workshops may have supplied artists of lesser skill with stone material and tools —and what w r as not used by them, could be given away for cheap. Regrettably, written sources make no reference to this issue, thus speculation is our only real recourse.
