WALTERS-EG
Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · statue
Statue of Tef-ib
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 22.11, 22.12, 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/22.10' 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 painted, human-form standing Egyptian statue of a male figure with a broad collar and inscribed panel on the torso/abdomen.
The artifact depicts a standing, mummiform-like male statue. The figure has a dark, tripartite-style wig or head covering with a blue-and-black striped nemes-like appearance and a painted face with kohl outlines. The body is largely nude, with a broad necklace/collar painted across the upper chest. On the lower torso/abdomen there is a vertical rectangular area filled with black hieroglyphic-like signs. A supporting base is integral to the object, and the legs are separated with painted details; the figure wears a painted kilt-like garment only at the hips/upper thigh area. The overall surface shows areas of wear and flaking paint, consistent with an older carved and painted wooden object. No clear royal cartouche is visible; no identifiable deity iconography beyond the general funerary/ritual statue form is present. There is no readable Greek/Coptic/Arabic text in the image.
royal
likely Late Period to Roman Period (date uncertain based on image only)
poor
Materials
carved woodpaint (blue/black/red/ochre)
Signs
hieroglyphic signs in vertical inscription panel (exact signs unclear) ×20
Visible text
"Vertical inscription panel on abdomen/torso; individual signs not reliably legible from the image resolution."
Inscriptions (1)
Inscription #1
English description
[Translation] ""The revered before Dwe-mutf, the domain-superintendent, Itf-ib, engendered by Itf-ib, the blessed, lord of reverence.""
Connections
Deities
Horus
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 22.10 tier-2
- Walters-id 21969 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.