Preview
Creation Date
2nd century BCE – 4th century CE
Geography
Egypt
Culture
Egyptian, Hellenistic or Roman
Medium
Terracotta
Dimensions
4 1/2 × 3 1/2 × 2 1/8 in. (11.4 × 8.9 × 5.4 cm)
5.743 oz. (162.7 g)
Credit Line
Bequest of David P. Harris ('46), 2020
Accession Number
2020.310
Provenance
Purchased by David P. Harris from Julia Schottlander (Tetragon) in London on May 8, 2004. Said to be from the Gustav Moustaki Collection.
Condition
There is a hole on the top that is 10/16 in. diameter making it so you cannot tell what the priests are carrying. There is a slit-like hole between the priest on the left and the middle of the sculpture. There is a chip in the base of the sculpture and one in the right breast of the priest on the right. There is a hole on the back that is 9/16 in. diameter. The front of the sculpture looks either dusty or worn especially in the crevices between the two figures.
Viv Muzilla (’24), October 2023
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
The numbers "3301" are written onto the terracotta while "ex Mustaki" is written on a small coat of white paint; both are written in black pen or marker and located on the back of the object at the lower end. The difference in background of the two suggests that they were added at separate times and possibly by separate owners (due to different methods being used for the writing). The numbers may have been the collection number of the object while in the Mustaki collection, although this cannot be confirmed. In addition, the numbers seem to be under a wash, indicating that there have been efforts to preserve the sculpture possibly while in the Mustaki collection.
References
Brad Hostetler, with Ani Parnagian, "From Private to Public: The Collection of David P. Harris," in Ethiopian Objects in the Blick-Harris Study Collection: Art, Context, and the Persistence of Form, eds. Brad Hostetler, and Lynn Jones, Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 5–25. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/
Description
The miniature sculpture “Two Priests” gives gravity to the weight they are carrying. Even though it has been broken, the importance of what they carry can be felt through the depiction of the priests. This effect is accomplished through the expression of the priests, the reaction of their bodies and the sturdiness of their clothes.
The priest on the viewer’s left stands with his head tilted to the left. The object weighing down on him is so large that he must tilt his head to make space for it. His arm contorts under the mass of the object he holds, appearing reliant on his shoulder to keep it up. The priest’s lower body is stiff, knowing that if it moves too much the object will overpower it. The body of the priest on the viewer’s right responds but not as expressly as his counterpart. This priest’s head is tilted in a similar way to the other one though muted. The difference between the two is that his body does not crumble under the weight. The tension of the object appears in his clenched left fist, concentrating the burden into a singular point. These bodily reactions provide physical weight to the object, revealing the symbolic weight of what they carry.
In their facial expressions, both priests also give insight to the viewers into their emotional state towards the object. The man on the viewer’s left squints, revealing his agony. Yet, the expression is deeper than this. His eyebrows both curved and raised, expanded nostrils, and downwardly curved mouth express his resolve. His face reads that despite the pain, the reason for carrying this object is so noble that he must carry through with it. His compatriot reads similarly although he does not give way to agony. The man’s eyelids are weighing down, yet he resists, not willing to give in. He wears a furrowed brow and appears to be almost smirking. The priest seems to be at once expressing serious and smugness, amazed at his ability to carry the object while still giving reverence to it though favoring the former.
The final tool used to show the importance is the priests’ cloaks. While there is some fluidity to their bodies, their garments do not give in. Gravity pulls the cloth to the ground with so much weight to prevent it from folding in on itself. The mass of the robes themselves appears in the size of the folds. Rather than succumbing to the force above them their drapery sits without giving in. This relieves the viewer from anxiety about the possibility of the object falling. While their upper bodies struggle, their lower bodies stand resolutely. The gravity of the statue is reflected in the gravity of the robes.
Part of the object the priests carry has not broken off the statue, allowing for some speculation into what it might be. Based on the front of the sculpture there is a platform that rests on the priests’ shoulders which carries what looks like a head indicated by the transition from its neck to its collar and what appears to be a ring around its neck. The part that sticks out on the back of the sculpture indicates what kind of head it is since it greatly corresponds to the neck of a bull. However, this reveals a new question, what kind of bull head is it? Are the priests holding severed the head of a once-living bull or the head of a statue of Apis, an Egyptian God depicted as a bull? There is evidence in favor of both sides.
There are two pieces of evidence supporting the reading that it is a severed head. First, Apis is rarely depicted as only a head. The only instance I have found of only Apis’ head being depicted is a small terracotta fragment, dated to the 2nd–1st century BCE (British Museum, 86.422). However, the priests are carrying a head that is probably larger than their own based on the difference in size between the necks of the priests and the neck on the pedestal. In addition, after sacrificing a bull, Egyptians would dispose of its head either by trading it to Greeks or putting it in the Nile (Thamis 2012). If this were a severed head, that would explain why it is being carried. However, why priests are carrying the head cannot be fully answered by this reading since nothing indicates that priests had to carry the head of a sacrificed bull.
Reading the head as belonging to Apis answers some questions that the reading of the head being severed cannot answer. When sacrificing a bull, it is just the head that is disposed of but this sculpture features more than the head (Thamis 2012). The neck and parts of the collar also lie on top of the pedestal. In addition, it is very likely that this sculpture was part of a household shrine since small terracotta figures were often used within shrines (Barrett 2015, 401). Other small terracotta figures that have survived depict either shrines or deities (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, T.487; British Museum, 1987,0402.29). Furthermore, the head of a sacrificed bull is meant to redirect evil from the ones who participated in the sacrifice to the head of the bull (Thamis 2012). After the sacrifice, Egyptians made sure to remove the head from where they lived; having it in one’s home seems to defeat the purpose of this even though it is only a representation of the head. Due to evidence based on the possible use of this sculpture, it seems that it depicts the head of Apis although this is not certain.
Further Reading
Barrett, Caitlín E. 2015. “Terracotta Figurines and the Archaeology of Ritual: Domestic Cult in Greco-Roman Egypt.” In Figurines grecques en contexte: Présence muette dans le sanctuaire, la tombe et la maison. Edited by Stéphanie Huysecom-Haxhi and Arthur Muller, 401–19. Villeneuve-d'Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.
Thamis. 2012. "Herodotus on Animal Sacrifice in Egypt." World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/87/herodotus-on-animal-sacrifice-in-egypt/. Accessed October 18, 2023.
Viv Muzilla (’24)