<em>Cloaked Official</em>, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegH2_print_bw.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegH2_print_bw.jpg)

<em>Cloaked Official</em>, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.62.77.1_erg2.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.62.77.1_erg2.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 62.77.1_front.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegC_print_bw.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegE_print_bw.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegF_print_bw.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegG_print_bw.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegH3_print_bw.jpg)

Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegL166_57_print_bw.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

The ears of many of the Egyptian sculptures seem to show exaggerated size. is there any significance to this or was it a common/desired trait of the people at the time?

Large ears, like the ones we see here were a popular feature of Middle Kingdom period art and are actually a good indicator of a statue having been made at that time. You'll notice similarly large ears on other statues from the Middle Kingdom, like the nearby Block Statue of Senwosret-senebefny. The large ear trend is a great example of how ancient Egyptian art changed over time. Facial features can often be used to date ancient Egyptian art because different shapes and sizes of features were trendy at different times.

Why are all their noses gone?

There are two reasons: either they broke off by accident or were chipped off on purpose. On the one hand, the nose is small and sticks out and therefore could easily break off (this statue is over 3000 years old after all).

Also, there was a belief that a person's soul could live in a statue so if you didn't want their soul to live in that statue any more, chipping off the nose was an easy way to "kill" the statue without having to break apart the whole thing.

Can you tell me more about this?

Sure! This cloak garment became popular in the Middle Kingdom period (when this official lived) and it had a big impact on art. At this time we start to see sculptures of men wrapped in the cloak like this and in a cube like form (seen nearby) called a block statue. These forms in sculpture remained popular for centuries after!

Interestingly, one of the ways we can tell this particular sculpture comes from the Middle Kingdom period is because of how large his ears are.

Thank you

Cloaked Official

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor

The Twelfth and early Thirteenth Dynasties comprised one of the most creative artistic epochs in Egyptian history. Artists introduced many new sculptural forms—some that continued for centuries and others that were soon abandoned.

One of the period’s most dramatic and long-lasting innovations was the cloaked statue. The cloak symbolized the god Osiris, whose corpse was wrapped tightly in bandages and who was eventually reborn to everlasting life. Individuals shown with their bodies shrouded in a thick mantle thus expressed the wish to be reborn following their own physical deaths.

MEDIUM Quartzite

Place Made: Egypt

DATES ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E.

DYNASTY early Dynasty 13

PERIOD Middle Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm) Base: 4 3/4 x 16 1/4 x 16 3/4 in. (12 x 41.3 x 42.5 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 62.77.1

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Red-brown (with tinge of purple) quartzite statue of a man seated with legs folded under him, and wearing long plain cloak clasped in right hand, the left hand extended against breast, flat. Rippled wig with flaring sides and pointed ends, the face a portrait. High, almost square base with incomplete inscription across front top. Name lost. Condition: Upper half of statue virtually intact, nose chipped as are one point of wig, upper right arm and tips of fingers. Lower half of statue (from elbows down) in poor condition. Second half of inscription with title and name lost. Base is in about five pieces.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Cloaked Official, ca. 1759-1675 B.C.E. Quartzite, 27 1/2 in. (69.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 62.77.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.62.77.1_NegH2_print_bw.jpg)

IMAGE CUR.62.77.1_NegH2_print_bw.jpg., 2016

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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