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Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · statue

Statue of Tef-ib

Source of record: Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

<p>Tombs sometimes contained more than one statue representing the owner. The statues were usually inscribed with the owner's name and titles, and they served as a focus for funerary rituals. These examples, belonging to a man named Tef-ib, are unusual in that they represent the tomb owner while also bearing inscriptions referring to the four sons of Horus, who protected the internal organs of the deceased. These deities were also identified with the north, south, east, and west, and the statues may have been placed in the tomb in accordance with these directions. The differing facial features of these statues (including Walters 22.10, 22.11, 22.13) suggest that they were made by more than one artist. Notice as well, the sizes of the four figures differ as well as their wigs.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/22.12' rel='external'>Statue of Tef-ib</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

A polychromed carved figure stands upright with a slender body and hands at the sides, wearing a blue/grey wig and a pale linen-like garment.

The image shows a full-length statue of a human figure standing with feet together on a rectangular base. The head and upper body are painted; the hair/wig appears bluish-grey with a smooth, straight style. The face has defined eyes and a neutral expression. The torso is largely nude, while a white/pale garment covers the hips and legs, extending down to the feet; the garment has painted decorative elements and outlines in dark pigment near the lower torso/upper legs. A column or block of painted signs appears on the front/left of the torso/garment area, resembling an Egyptian inscription or ritual text, though the individual signs are not fully legible at this resolution. No clear royal cartouche is readable. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible. The object is consistent with a carved wooden statue with polychrome paint as stated by the catalogue.

royal unknown (likely Egyptian Late Period/early Ptolemaic style, but unclear from image resolution) good
Materials carved woodpolychrome paintpainted linen-like garment (pigment)
Signs painted Egyptian hieroglyphic text (individual signs not clearly legible) ×10
Visible text "Unclear; a vertical painted column of hieroglyphic signs on the front torso/garment, not legible enough for a reliable excerpt."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1

English description

[Translation] ""The revered before Hepy, the domain-superintendent, Itf-ib, engendered by Itf-ib, the blessed, lord of reverence.""

Connections

Deities Horus

Cross-references (2)

  • Walters-AccNum 22.12 tier-2
  • Walters-id 8010 tier-2

Similar inscriptions · by content embedding

About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.