The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Torso of Amenpayom

Torso of Amenpayom

probably 200–100 BCE
(332 BCE–395 CE), Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BCE)
Overall: 96.4 x 32.3 x 28.6 cm (37 15/16 x 12 11/16 x 11 1/4 in.)
Location: 107 Egyptian

Did You Know?

On the back Amenpayom is depicted again worshiping the gods of Mendes, Harpocrates, Banebjedet, and Hatmehit.

Description

This magnificent life-sized torso is inscribed for Amenpayom, the great army general of the district of Mendes in the Nile Delta. By the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty (305-30 BC) when this statue was made, the Egyptians could draw on 3,000 years of expertise carving hard stone. Enough remains to show that Amenpayom was represented in the traditional pose for men: left leg striding forward, arms at his sides, and supported by a back pillar. The subtle, masterful treatment of the undulating musculature and meticulous, flawless polish are hallmarks of this period, when Egyptian artists reveled in the natural beauty of the human form.
  • Said to have come from Tanis
    -1948
    Paul Mallon, Sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1948-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh
  • Wunderlich, Silvia A. "Diorite Torso of a General." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 36, no. 6 (1949) 99-101, and Cover www.jstor.org
    Ranke, Hermann. "The Statue of a Ptolemaic ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΟΣ of the Mendesian Nome in the Cleveland Museum of Art." Journal of the American Oriental Society 73, no. 4 (1953). pp. 193-98, with 1 pl www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 9 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. [Catalogue. 1958. No. 219 archive.org
    Brooklyn Museum. Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 700 B.C. to A.D. 100. 1960. No. 97
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Martha L. Carter. Egyptian Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: The Museum, 1963. Mentioned and reproduced: back cover archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 6 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 6 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Arielle P. Kozloff. An Introduction to the Art of Egypt in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: [The Museum], 1970. p. 18
    Los Angeles County Museum. Age of the Pharaohs: Egyptian Art from American Collections. An Exhibition Checklist for Students, April 4-June 16, 1974. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974. No. 2
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Gabriel P. Weisberg, and H. W. Janson. Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975. No. 2
    Meulenaere, Herman de, and Pierre A. MacKay. Mendes II. Warminster, Eng: Aris & Phillips, 1976. p. 199, no. 61, pl. 24
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 17 archive.org
    Kozloff, Arielle P. "The Egyptian Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art." American Research Center in Egypt. Newsletter. 125 (Spring 1984). pp. 4-13, illus. p. 7
    Chevereau, Pierre-Marie, and Jean Yoyotte. Prosopographie des cadres militaires égyptiens de la Basse Epoque carrières militaires et carrières sacerdotales en Egypte du XIe au IIe siècle avant J.-C. Paris: Cybèle, 1985. pp. 190-91
    Fazzini, Richard A., and Robert Steven Bianchi. Cleopatra's Egypt: Age of the Ptolemies. [Brooklyn, N.Y.]: Brooklyn Museum, 1988. No. 26
    Wildung, Dietrich, and Sylvia Schoske. Kleopatra: Ägypten um die Zeitenwende : Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, 16. Juni-10. September 1989. Mainz: P. von Zabern, 1989. No. 26
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 10 archive.org
    Berman, Lawrence M. "La Collection Egyptienne du Cleveland Museum of Art." Bulletin de la Société française d'égyptologie 134 (October 1995). p. 23, fig. 4
    Mission française des fouilles de Tanis, Philippe Brissaud, Christiane Zivie-Coche, and Christiane Zivie-Coche. Tanis: travaux récents sur le tell Sân el-Hagar. Paris: Noêsis, 1998. pp. 214-15, & 219, figs. 39-41
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced: p.460-2; Mentioned: p. 461-3
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and David Franklin. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd, 2012. pp. 14-15
    Franklin, David. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012. Reproduced: p. 14 - 15
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 76
    Vandenbeusch, Marie, Aude Semat, and Margaret Maitland. Pharaoh: King of Ancient Egypt. 2016. p. 164, fig. 76
    Cafici, Giorgia. The Egyptian Elite As Roman Citizens: Looking at Ptolemaic Private Portraiture. 2021. Mentioned: p. 127, note 459; p. 128, note 468.
  • Pharaoh: King of Ancient Egypt. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 13-June 12, 2016).
    Cleopatra's Egypt: Age of the Ptolemies. The Brooklyn Museum (7 October 1988 - 2 January 1989); The Detroit Institute of Arts (14 February - 30 April 1989); Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, Germany (8 June - 10 September 1989).
    Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).
    Age of the Pharaohs. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (April 8-June 16, 1974).
    Age of the Pharaohs: Egyptian Art from American Collections. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (8 April-16 June 1974).
    Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period. The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (organizer) (October 18, 1960-January 9, 1961).
    Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period 700 B.C. to A.D. The Brooklyn Museum, (18 October 1960-9 January 1961).
    In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).
    Classic to Baroque: A Style Change in the Arts. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 30-November 13, 1949).
  • {{cite web|title=Torso of Amenpayom|url=false|author=|year=probably 200–100 BCE|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1948.141