Black siltstone sculpture of male wearing a kilt. Male figures wearing these long kilts were first introduced in the 12th Dynasty and figures with hands flat against the kilt a little later (according to Bourriau p55, not before the reign of Senusret III). Probably the owner of the tomb. From Aswan. Late Middle Kingdom-Second Intermediate period. The back pillar of this statue bears the beginning of an offering formula. Formerly part of the Grenfell collection purchased by Sir Henry Wellcome at auction in Jult 1920. Field Marshall Francis Wallace Grenfell (1841-1925) was an Egyptologist who commanded troops in Aswan around 1885. Between 1885 and 1886 he opened a number of Old-Middle Kingdom tombs in this area. The inscriptions on these tombs show that they come from commanders of troops who organised expeditions to Nubia. It is possible that this statue came from one of these tombs. For Middle Kingdom Art see Janine Bourriau 1988 'Pharaohs and Mortals. Egyptian Art in the Middle Kingdom' Cambridge University Press.
