id: 101360 accession number: 1920.1975 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1920.1975 updated: 2019-07-11 08:00:10.182000 Trial Piece Worked on Both Sides, c. 1391-1353 BC. Egypt, probably Thebes, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III. Limestone; overall: 34.4 x 24 x 7 cm (13 9/16 x 9 7/16 x 2 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1920.1975 title: Trial Piece Worked on Both Sides title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1391-1353 BC creation date earliest: 1391 creation date latest: 1353 current location: 107 Egyptian creditline: Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust copyright: --- culture: Egypt, probably Thebes, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III technique: limestone department: Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art collection: Egypt - New Kingdom type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 34.4 x 24 x 7 cm (13 9/16 x 9 7/16 x 2 3/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Exhibition of the Month: Egypt opening date: 1952-10-03T05:00:00 Exhibition of the Month: Egypt. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 3-December 28, 1952). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Probably Thebes date: footnotes: citations: Jusef Hasan, Luxor, through Howard Carter, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1920 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1920- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Trial pieces were a necessity of this busy building period because new styles were continually introduced and rapid training of apprentices was needed. digital description: wall description: This carved flake of limestone provides a fascinating glimpse of the ancient artist at work. One side, by far the better, features four studies of heads. At the upper left is an Asiatic. He has a low forehead, a prominent nose, and a long, pointed beard. To his right is a Nubian wearing the short, round headdress and large loop earring that the Egyptians usually identified with this ethnic group. The bottom row presents images from within Egypt. At the left is a stock image of a king. To his right is another Egyptian, whose clean-shaven head immediately identifies him as a priest. The rather routine, basic subjects of the other side show a far lower level of accomplishment. The sole details of any skill are the incomplete head of the god Bes at the bottom center and the human ear at the left edge. The simple neb-signs (baskets) are poorly executed, and the drawing of the hand is embarrassingly bad. At the lower right is a thickly banded human eye. Above that is the fair head of a princess wearing a short wig, wide headband, and thick sidelock. At the upper left are the beginnings (or the remains) of the bewigged head of a courtier, the face mostly obliterated. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: 57 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook_80839/page/n59 Capart, Jean. Documents pour servir à l'étude de l'art égyptien, publiés. Paris: Les Éditions du Pégase, 1927. page number: pp. 43-44, 79, pl. 61 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. page number: Reproduced: p. 69 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1928/page/n73 Cooney, John D. "Amarna Art in the Cleveland Museum." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 55, no. 1 (1968): 2-17. page number: pp. 10-12, figs. 8, 9 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152189 Mysliwiec, Karol. "Le Portrait Royal dans le Bas Relief du Nouvel Empire," Travaux du Centre d'Archeologie Mediterraneene de l'Academie Polonaise des Sciences 18 (1976). page number: pp. 71-72, fig. 152 url: Berman, Lawrence Michael, and Bernadette Letellier. Pharaohs: Treasures of Egyptian Art from the Louvre. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Oxford University Press, 1996. page number: p. 12 url: Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 page number: Reproduced: p. 237-238; Mentioned: p. 237-239 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1920.1975/1920.1975_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1920.1975/1920.1975_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1920.1975/1920.1975_full.tif