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A SCARAB  OF INYOTEF?

 

 This scarab is made in steatite the glaze of which is faded to light brown with residual traces of green. It's well modelled and engraved with precision. It measures 19 x 14 x 9. On the smooth back, the prothorax is suggested by two little notches. Head and clypeus carefully executed and legs mid-high, fairly deeply carved; feathered in the centre and fore and hind ones notched. It has a Tufnell classification1 B7/O/e6b.

 

  The vertically arranged motif shows, in the centre, a cartouche outlined with double lines with a ruled base containing the signs: Re and kheper. Above the cartouche there is the royal title nesw- bit (King of Upper and Lower Egypt); below there is the gold sign nwb. On either side of the cartouche a pair of ankh signs (repeated) and nb. 

 

This piece raises the question of whether or not it's a scarab for  the pharaoh Nubkheperre, the prenomen of Inyotef V or Antef V of the Theban Seventeenth Dynasty; an elusive ruler whose reign cannot yet been chronologically fixed. (In this case we should need consider the nbw sign as an integral part of the name)2.

 

In an interesting study, Ward3 asserts that the sequence Ra-kheper-nub is incorrect (instead of the correct one: Ra-nub-kheper as on known monuments of this ruler). For other similar scarabs Ward suggests that the nwb has been placed at the bottom because it fits in the lower margin of the oval scarab shape and, as the neb sign, is thus a space-filler giving an aesthetic appearance. However he admits that we cannot exclude the royal name on scarabs with the sequence Ra-kheper-nub solely on the basis of an incorrect order of signs.

 





 

Well, is this scarab of this king or not?

  

In his study, Ward asserts that most scarabs ascribed to Nubkheperre do not in fact record a royal name, but are artistic variants of that he calls the kheper-nub motif  group, of which there are numerous graphic variants. Many of them are flanked by pairs of tall narrow signs, usually ankh or nefer. Moreover, in the same study, Ward asserts that when nesw-bit appears, even at the top of the design, it does not imply that what is engraved below contains a royal name.

 

A very similar parallel4 is claimed to be a shortened writing of Inyotef V, but the attribution doesn't convince us.

  

In summary, in the light of what we have stated above and having not found other reliable parallels, we do have not the evidence that it's a scarab of Inyotef V. In doubt, we deem this piece is a good example of the late Middle Kingdom (of which it has the shape) or early Hyksos period.     

 

 

  

 

1 Tufnell O., "STUDIES ON SCARAB SEALS" vol. 2, part 1 Warminster, UK - 1984,  32-37 (we adopt this classification method because it seems to us the most appropriate to typological description, even if it has been conceived for Second Intermediate Period scarabs).                     

2  Tufnell O., "STUDIES ON SCARAB SEALS" vol. 2, part 2 Warminster, UK - 1984, p. 385, 3500-3501-3502.

3  Ward W.A., "SCARABS OF NUBKHEPERRA", Beritus XXV-1977, p. 163 and foll.

4  Nfa, auction of Dec 11, 1991, 32.

 

 

Since Franco started regularly placing articles here several people have emailed me asking where to get a copy of his excelent book. Apparently some of you have had  difficulty getting a copy.

 

You can get a copy from Oxbow books here

 

And possibly from someone linked into Allbookstores.com

 

 

THE KING ON THE SACRED BARK

 

 

The understanding of this scarab is difficult because of the two not very intelligible tall objects placed at stern and stem, but it contains an interesting feature: the vessel placed under the throne.

 

It's made in ochre steatite fron which the glaze is vanished. It measures 18 x 13 x 9  mm. and has a Tufnell classification1 C7/vIv/d5.

 

The oval prothorax is separated from the elytra by a T trace, the vertical part of which is triple. The wing-cases are adorned by two showy V-marks.  The legs are mid-high, thick and smooth. The engraving is levelled and well done. The horizontally arranged motifs showsthe king (he wears the uraeus on the forehead) seated upon the cubic throne with back, placed on the Sacred Barc of Mont (at stern and stem, note the stylization of the head of Mont with tall feathers). The king has the left arm raised up and the right one bent on the chest. In front there are ra and nfr signs.  Under the throne we can see a vessel (Gardiner sign W22, beer-jug, which also is determinative for tribute, offering).





The understanding of the symbolism of this odd position of the vessel is not entirely clear: we suppose that probably it symbolizes received offerings or tributes put under the throne, I refer to under the Pharaoh's authority, similarly to the figures of "Asiatic" enemies depicted on the soles of sandals of the king2 or on his foot-rest3, and then perpetually trampled down. Even in the great statuary, the king is often depicted with the Nine Bows (symbolizing the peoples' traditionally enemies of Egypt) under his feet4. See HALL5, in which, truly, the figure is not fully clear, but it seems to see a vessel under the throne.  JAEGER6, in which on a side of a rectangular plaque, one can clearly see a vessel similar to our one here, put under the throne of the king. It is significant that, on the other side of the plaque, there is a walking sphinx trampling down an enemy, thus repeating and underlining the idea of the pharaoh's authority and power. In an piece kept in the PETRIE MUSEUM7 the motif is similar, but the throned personage is a boy (Horus child?) and the vessel under the throne looks like a disc (globe-shaped bowl Gardiner W24?). If so, the sign is alternative to Gadiner W22 and W23, thus with the same meaning of offering or tribute: many rulers are represented kneeling with two globe-shaped bowls on their palms to make an offering to a divinity. As to the two tall objects, the only surmise I can make is that thy are pieces of wood joined and lashed at the joint (Gardiner T13) with the meaning: be wakeful, vigilant. That should give a sense to the motif, namely: to be vigilant in the navigation. Or, taking in consideration the Re and nfr

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A parallel:

 

 At LACMA - LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

Scarab with King on his Festival Barque
Stone; Scarab, Brown steatite, 3/4 x 9/16 x 5/16 in. (1.92 x 1.4 x .86 cm)
Gift of Hyatt Robert von Dehn

(M.69.91.237)

 

 

 




 

There  is a very useful two part pdf on 79 scarabs in the museum here:

 

http://www.karacooney.com/articles/kara-cooney-scarabs-part1.pdf

 

http://www.karacooney.com/articles/kara-cooney-scarabs-part2.pdf

 

 

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