Stanford University

Block Statue with Cartouches of Ramses II

Block Statue with Cartouches of Ramses II

Artist unknown (Egypt), Block Statue with Cartouches of Ramses II, ancient with ancient modifications, c. 712–332 BCE, or 19th-century fake. Granodiorite. Stanford Family Collections, 1966.371

In 1882 the Scottish archaeologist Alexander Henry Rhind (1833–1863) observed how faux statues were being fashioned in Egypt: “The [statue] is fractured to give it a truer look, and the hieroglyphic inscription is copied (but rudely) from a genuine original. The most popular and largely-sold forgery. . . bear[s] the name of Ramses the Great upon it.”

This block statue may be one such fake, or it might be a genuine antiquity that was re-carved with a royal appearance to increase its value to collectors such as Jane Stanford. The headdress bears the cartouche of Ramses II and the royal serpent emblem despite the fact that this type of seated figure almost always memorialized non-royal elites. Indeed, the closest parallels to this statue depict non-royals from the fourth century BCE, for instance those of Neskhemenyu and Pameniuwedja at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (see below).

Block Statue of Neskhemenyu

Artist unknown (Egypt), Block Statue of Neskhemenyu, Son of Kapefha, 4th century BCE. Gabbro, pigment. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1907

Block Statue of the God's Father Pameniuwedja

Artist unknown (Egypt), Block Statue of the God's Father Pameniuwedja, Son of Nesmin and Nestefnut, 4th century BCE. Diorite. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1907

Jane Stanford’s statue also differs from typical depictions of royalty due to its tiny, almost nonexistent ears. In the Egyptian religious imagination, it was critical for royal statues to have sizable ears so that the prayers of petitioners could be heard and answered. Was the statue refashioned anciently? Did a modern forger give an ancient statue a royal appearance to increase its value? Or is the entire creation a modern hoax?