In a study of yellow-skinned representations of men in the Old Kingdom which appeared in the second number of this journal, H. G. Fischer included a discussion of representations of statues whose skin had been painted yellow overlaid with black.1 To the group of such statues represented in series upon the walls of the serdab of Nhbw's mastaba (G 2381)2 may now be added a single representation of a statue which occurs among the fragmentary wall paintings from the tomb of MM, acquired by the Louvre in 1964.3 The statue represented in the MM painting stands upon a black base4 whose front edge is flush with a yellow vertical bar bordering the hieroglyphic inscription to the right.5 The tomb owner stands, barefoot, in the typical striding attitude, with left leg advanced. He wears a short kilt (i.e. above the knee) with triangular front panel. In his left hand (lost) he held a walking staff whose lower tip rests upon the base; the right hand (also lost) grasped the %-scepter. From the position of the scepter, it is clear that the right hand and arm were drawn to the left of the kilt ; the statue was therefore represented not in profile, but rather in that combination of characteristic views usually employed for the depiction of the human figure.6 A precise description cannot be given of the context in which the statue was originally to be understood. The orientation and placement of the statue at the end of the register, facing the same end of the register, exclude both transportation and cultic contexts.7 Adjoining fragments from the lower registers of the wall show retainers of the tomb owner at work. The statue may once have formed part of a workshop scene.8 However, a more plausible suggestion is that the statue is all that remains of a representation of funerary equipment arrayed for MM's inspection.9 Fischer has suggested that the coloring of the skin (black overpainting yellow, strips of which are left exposed) is to be interpreted as reproducing the grained surface of dark wood.10 The specific identification ebony is avoided.11 In only one Old Kingdom instance of a statue depicted in relief and painted is the material ebony named in the accompanying inscription. A standing statue erected within an open shrine is dragged upon a sledge to the tomb. Above the shrine is written twt n hbny.12 The traces of color still visible upon the skin of the statue are red-brown, as is also the case with the skin of a second statue in the same transportation series designated twt n snd.lz According to Cooney, the five statues of MM, today divided among the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Kansas City, represent in all likelihood the complete series of statuary prepared for the noble's serdab.14 A comparison of the statue represented in the painting with MM's statues shows that the appearance of none of the sculptures is exactly reproduced in the painting: the iconographic combination of short triangular panel kilt, walking staff and scepter does not exist among the statues. All the statues possess at least traces of their original colors, and, although the skin color varies considerably among them, the range of color expresses shades of red.15 All the statues are made of wood, but none has been scientifically examined to provide an accurate description of the type of timber employed.16
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Aug 1, 1980
T G H James 
