Middle Kingdom, early Dynasty 13, circa 1759-1675 B.C.
Red quartzite
Provenance not known

The Twelfth and early Thirteenth Dynasties comprised one of
the most creative artistic epochs in Egyptian history.
Artists introduced many new sculptural forms -- some that
continued for centuries and others that were soon abandoned.

One of the period's most dramatic and long-lasting innovations
was the cloaked statue. The cloak symbolized the god Osiris,
whose corpse was wrapped tightly in bandages and who was
eventually reborn to everlasting life. Individuals shown with
their bodies shrouded in a thick mantle thus expressed the wish
to be reborn following their own physical deaths.