Egyptian, probably late Dynastic to Ptolemaic Periods, ca. 1290 to 30 BCE. This is a high-relief sculptor’s model done in plaster of a realistic human leg and foot with vertical grid lines preserved down one side. There are subtle carved details of the knee, calf, ankle, and toes including what looks thin sandal straps on each toe. This piece may have served as a model for a larger sculpture, to teach new sculptors how to replicate a master style, or to produce shabtis (small funerary statues for tombs). The grid lines were probably used to help show proportion or perspective. Like similar pieces, this has an unfinished, functional style. These pieces are difficult to date; some are from the Amarna period, when new forms of statuary came in, but most are from the late Dynastic and Ptolemaic periods. Size: (with attached stand) 10-3/4"H x 4-3/4"W x 2-3/4"L (27 cm x 12 cm x 7 cm).

Similar pieces are held in the British Museum, the Australian Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many other institutions.

Provenance: Ex-private Simonian collection, Switzerland, before 1985.

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#110506

Chipping to the toes. Many of the perspective lines are still visible.