This block statue is one of the most recent acquisitions in the Egyptian collection, as well as the most valuable purchase for a long time. Its high quality and perfect preservation place this statue among the most important examples of sculpture from the first millennium BC. Characteristic for the Late Period are the bag-shaped headcovering and, in the outline of the body, the indication of the back, waist, and thighs of the cubic squatting figure. The style of the piece is typical for the period because it strikes a classical balance between realism and idealisation, and because of the smooth polish of its surface. The inscriptions on the front, on the sides of the pedestal, and on the back pillar are indicative of their date in both orthography and content, despite their use of old, sometimes ancient phraseology. The person represented is a "divine father", a high priestly rank, called Har-kheb, whose father was the prophet of Amun in Karnak Hor, and whose mother was the temple musician of Amun Isis-reshuti [Esershôt]. The name Har-kheb is a more or less phonetic rendering of Hor-em-akhbit, "Horus is in Khemmis". On the front of the statue is a version of the traditional "appeal to passers-by", but revised in accordance with the zeitgeist in an original manner, so that it now invokes the god. In the traditional appeal the statue owner promises to reward passers-by for their prayers, but now the god is asked to take care of that.
The divine father who loves god, Horemtabat true of voice, the son of the prophet of Amun in Karnak, Hor, born of the mistress of the house and songstress of Amun-Re, Esershôt. He says: Oh god, protect those who pass by, so that my statue is made to last in your temple, so that you will make my name good, by the mouth (by the prayer) of every one who passes by me, as well as the wab priests of your temple! An offering which the king gives to Amun-Re, the Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, the foremost of Karnak, and to Montu-Re, the Lord of Thebes, and to Re-Harakhty, the great god, the Lord of Heaven, and to Atum, the Lord of the Two Lands, the Heliopolitan, and to Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, so that they may give a funerary offering of bread and beer, oxen and fowl, and good things (to) the Osiris, the divine father, Horemtabat the son of the prophet of Amun in Karnak, Hor, born of the mistress of the house, Esershôt.
The town god of the divine father Horemtabat true of voice, the son of the prophet of Amun in Karnak, Hor true of voice, born of the mistress of the house and songstress of Amun-Re, Esershôt, place yourself behind him like his Ka is before him. Because he is a iwny.
Bibliography
Katalog "Gott-Mensch-Pharao", Wien (1992) 380, Kat.Nr. 151.
Satzinger, H., Das Kunsthistorische Museum in Wien. Die Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie 14 und Antike Welt (Sonderheft), Mainz (1994) 116, Abb. 81.
Seipel, W. (ed.), Götter Menschen Pharaonen, Speyer (1993) = Dioses, Hombres, Faraones, Ciudad de México (1993) = Das Vermächtnis der Pharaonen, Zürich (1994)
Satzinger, H., Der Amonpriester "Horus-vom-Busch": eine saitische Hockerstatue neu in Wien. Ägypten und Altes Testament (ÄAT) 34 (1996), 258-263.
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