01/05/2025
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A painted limestone group-statue of the noblewoman Meretites and her son Khennu. They lived in the time of the 5th Dynasty (circa 2465-2323 BCE). "... [She] held the titles 'Royal Ornament', 'Royal Relative', 'Mistress of Ceremonies' and 'Overseer of the House of Hairdressing'..., the latter title also having been translated as 'Overseer of the Chamber of Wigs' with the suggestion that Meretites' work was restricted to either the supervision of female wigmakers, or, more probably, the care of women's wigs..."
The two similar statues of Meretites belong to a genre of sculptures referred to by Egyptologists as 'pseudo-group'. It was used only during the 5th and 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom. A pseudo-group could include two, three or even four figures of the same person, and might also include in addition one statue of a different person.
The meaning of these double or sometimes triple or quadruple effigies has eluded scholars. Some have suggested that they were meant to depict the person at different life stages; but this distinction is not always perceptible to the eye. Others have speculated that a pseudo-group could represent the person accompanied by his or her ka (spiritual double) or kas. Still others have interpreted pseudo-groups as a specific type of family group and not actually two or more likenesses on the same base.
Source of the quotation in the first paragraph is:
— Fletcher, Amy Joann, Ancient Egyptian Hair: A Study in Style, Form and Function, PhD thesis, Faculty of Arts, The University of Manchester, Manchester, England, October 1995.
This sculpture (AST 9) is now in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Museum of Antiquities), Leiden, the Netherlands.
Photo: Heqaib
