Nebwenenef, High Priest of Amun, between 1290 and 1275 BCE

  • Egyptian

Black granite

  • Overall (object only): 14 5/8 × 11 × 7 7/8 inches (37.1 × 27.9 × 20 cm) Including base: 15 3/4 × 11 × 7 7/8 inches (40 × 27.9 × 20 cm)

Founders Society Purchase, New Endowment Fund, Benson and Edith Ford Fund, Henry Ford II Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Buhl Ford II Fund, Josephine and Ernest Kanzler Fund, General Endowment Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden III Fund, Joseph H. Boyer Memorial Fund, J. Lawrence Buell, Jr. Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Alvan Macauley, Jr. Fund, Barbara L. Scripps Fund, Henry E. and Consuelo S. Wenger Foundation Fund, Matilda R. Wilson Fund, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Abraham Borman Family Fund, Mary Martin Semmes Fund, Edna Burian Skelton Fund, James Pearson Duffy Fund, Hill Memorial Fund, and funds from various contributors.

1990.292

On View

  • Egyptian: Daily Reverences, Level 1, West

Department

African Art

Nebwenenef, high priest of Amun, can be dated rather precisely to the first fifteen years in the reign of Ramses II (1290-24 BCE) because it is recorded in the priest's tomb that he was identified by an oracle of the god Amun and installed in that high office in the first year of his king's rule.

Inscribed, right shoulder: Cartouche of Ramesses II Inscribed, on back pillar: [Translated: ....his son, to (?), the bark of Sokar [which is] in the necropolis, that they may give...[every good and pure thing] | upon which the gods live; and to receive the provisions which come forth before those who are in //// | [and to drink the water from the banks] of the river according to desire, and breath the breath... (Translation by Emily Teeter, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago,1991)]

probably from Theban Tomb 157, the Tomb of Nebwenenef. (Ingrid and Bruce McAlpine, London, England). Jack Josephson (New York, USA). (Koutalakis, Geneva, Switzerland). (McAlpine Fine Arts, London, England)

1990-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Bell, Lanny. "Dira Abu el-Naga: The monuments of the Ramesside High Priests of Amun and Some Related Officials", Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo. band 37, 1981, pp. 51-62. (entry 1. C. 3. with notes.) Loukianoff, Grégorie. "Le Musée du Convent Grec Saint Georges au Vieux-Caire", Bulletin de l'Institute d'Egypte, 23. 1941, pp. 171-178, plts. III and IV (for the lower half of the statue). Lefebvre, Gustave. Histoire des Grands Prêtres d'Amon de Karnak. Paris, 1929, pp. 117-123 & 248-249 (for information on Nebwenenef, his tomb and his family). Peck, William H. Bulletin of the DIA 66, no. 4. 1990, p. 49 (ill.). Recent Acquisition announcement, Minerva. July/August, 1991. Peck, William H. "Detroit and the Ancient World", Minerva, vol. 2, no 5. September/October 1991, p. 23. Peck, William H. "Egypt at the Detroit Institute of Arts-A History of the Growth of the Collection", KMT: A Modern Journal of Egyptology, vol. 2, no. 3. Fall 1991, p. 17 (ill.). DIA, the Detroit Institute of Arts supplement to Detroit Monthly magazine, March, 1991. Back cover (ill.). Bulletin of the DIA 67, no.2/3. 1992, p. 38, fig. 26. Detroit. 1995, p. 103. Peck, William H. "An Image of Nebwenenef, High Priest of Amun", Essays on Ancient Egypt in Honor of Herman Te Velde. Groningen, 1997.

Egyptian, Nebwenenef, High Priest of Amun, between 1290 and 1275 BCE, black granite. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, New Endowment Fund, Benson and Edith Ford Fund, et al., 1990.292.