A Battered Statue of Shedsunefertem,High Priest of Memphis (BM EA 25) *

Abstract

Publication of a kneeling naophorous statue in the British Museum (EA 25), now headless and much damaged. It has previously been recognised as belonging to an unidentified official, son of a high priest of Memphis called Ankhefensekhmet, and has been associated with an uninscribed head now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 66.99.64. Study of the fragmentary text shows that this son was the high priest of Memphis in the time of Sheshonq I, Shedsunefertem, for whom it records some unusual epithets. It is argued that the text is secondary and that the statue, which has a regal belt motif, was originally made for Khaemwese, son of Ramesses II. The hiatus in the production of statues during the Twenty-first Dynasty, and the extent of usurpation when interest in this medium revived at the start of the Twenty-second, are discussed, as are the implications for the Metropolitan Museum of Art head.