The King and I: Commemorating the privilege of royal statue dedication in Ramesside Deir El-Medina

Abstract

• It is generally understood that in ancient Egyptian statuary, “a private person is never sculpted together with the king”. However, an unusual small limestone statue in the collections of National Museums Scotland contradicts this understanding, depicting a man kneeling to offer a statue of a king (NMS A.1956.139). Clearly Ramesside in style, it has sometimes been assumed to represent a royal tutor and his charge. Recent archival research in the notes of Scottish archaeologist Alexander Henry Rhind has revealed the provenance of this statue as having been excavated in Deir el-Medina in the 1850s. This paper will discuss possible identifications for the king and the official and examine the statue in relation to similar examples excavated in the Hathor chapel at Deir el-Medina by Bruyère (Deir el-Medina nos. 91, 250 and other fragments). In context, these statues offer insights into the relationship between the Ramesside kings, their viziers, and the high officials at Deir el-Medina, as well as the mutually beneficial performative role of commissioning and dedicating monuments