This is one of numerous relief fragments from a series of offering-bearers or courtiers, retrieved by the Egypt Exploration Fund in the clearance of the temple of king Nebhepetra Mentuhotep on the West Bank at Thebes. The close parallel 1907:476 shows the courtier with one hand held in reverence to the chest; on this fragment, perhaps from the same sequence, only part of the hand survives at centre, but the lower torso and other arm are better preserved. The formal kilt is bound in a knot at the waist. Series of such figures are first found in relief on the walls of Old Kingdom royal pyramid temples, evidently the inspiration for the artists of Mentuhotep during the reunification of Egypt at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom.
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