From Saqqara to Brussels: A Head from a Sixth Dynasty Prisoner Statue in the Musees Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire

Abstract

Six of the late Old Kingdom pharaohs erected statues of foreign bound prisoners in their pyramid complexes. These statues, which are known today as prisoner statues, are unique in being free-standing, nearly life-size, limestone depictions of the king’s enemies. An unpublished head in the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels once belonged to such a statue. Its facial features, which are executed in the so-called Second Style or the late Old Kingdom style, most closely resemble those from Sixth Dynasty prisoner statues, indicating that the Brussels head most likely came from a Sixth Dynasty pyramid complex. Moreover, a number of factors tentatively suggest that this complex was probably that of Pepi II.