Reserve head
Vienna, Austria
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Egyptian Collection
About Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
4th Dyn. c. 2600 BC; acquired by Hermann Junker during his excavation in Giza 1912–1929
ÄOS Inv.Nr. 7787
Limestone
Height 27,7 cm, B 17,3 cm, Diameter 24,5 cm
The Reserve head is one of the major works of the Viennese collection, found in an early tomb in the burial grounds of Giza. Though stylized, the visage is still full of life, with simultaneously idealized and very regular features. Scholars still disagree about the purpose of this type of object. Traditional explanations proffer their use as surrogate heads for the soul (mummifying having then been only in its earliest stages).
"Reserve head" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;at;28;en
MWNF Working Number: AT 029
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