On view
Bust of a woman as Isis, possibly the Adoratrice Shepenwepet II,
ca. 700-650 BCE
This bust portrays a woman, possibly the high priestess Shepenwepet II. Styling herself in the guise of a goddess such as Isis or Hathor, who were related in their association with motherhood and fertility, the figure attests to the indispensable role of women in Nubian society around the time of the 25th Dynasty. Yet the ongoing physical displacement of Nubian people and their cultural artifacts from present-day Egypt and Sudan continues to distort our understanding of Nubia, of its expansive date palm fields, shifting sand dunes, and the flourishing fava bean crops of Dongola, Sudan. The narratives that sustain Nubia, via oral traditions passed down through generations—mothers, sisters, unborn daughters—show that the healing wisdom and vast knowledge of Nubian women endure, though they risk fading someplace beyond our memories, and are a vital part of our collective heritage.
Rahma Elsheikh, Class of 2025
Information
ca. 700-650 BCE
[Maurice Nahman (1868-1948), Cairo (Egypt), by October 8, 1926]; [purchased by Joseph Brummer (1883-1947), New York (NY), October 8, 1926, stock no. P3506/P3705]; purchased by Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes (1867-1944), December 8, 1926; [returned to Brummer in exchange against the sale of a marble head, October 6, 1927]; purchased by Anson Conger Goodyear (1877-1964), Buffalo (NY), November 2, 1927 [1]; Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo (NY), 1946-2007; [Egyptian, Classical, And Western Asiatic Antiquities, Including Property Of The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Sotheby's, New York (NY), June 7, 2007, lot no. 12 [2]]; [Phoenix Ancient Art, New York (NY), 2007-2009]; purchased by an anonymous collector, 2009; [returned to Phoenix Ancient Art, New York (NY), by 2013]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2013 [3].
[1] For the provenance until this point, see Brummer Gallery Records, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY).
[2] See the related entry on Sotheby's website.
[3] For the provenance after 1927, see the object folder in the museum files.
- "Additions: permanent collection", Gallery notes 11, no. 1 (1946): p. 13-23., mentioned, p. 2; p. 22 (illus.)
- Andrew C. Ritchie, Catalogue of the paintings and sculpture in the permanent collection, (Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1949)., p. 212; no. 223.
- Bertha Porter, Rosalind L.B. Moss and Ethel W. Burney, Topographical bibliography of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic texts, reliefs, and paintings, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960-)., Vol. 8, pt. 1: p. 471
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Gifts to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery from A. Conger Goodyear: [Exhibition] Dec. 14-Jan. 6, 1963, (Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1963).
- Walter F. Reineke, Acts: first International Congress of Egyptology, Cairo, October 2-10, 1976, (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1979)., p. 212-213.12
- Steven A Nash, ed. Painting and sculpture from antiquity to 1942, (New York: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1979)., p. 71
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Antiquities, including property of the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York, (New York: Sotheby's, 2007).
, lot 12 - "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2013," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 73 (2014): p. 37-64., p. 56
