Bust of an Administrator of the Domain of Neit

Late Period, Saite
ca. 600 BC
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 127
This small, exquisitely carved bust was once part of a kneeling or a standing statue of a man who held before him either a smaller figure of a deity or a shrine containing the divine image. Traces of the object are still visible at the lower edge of his chest. The sophisticated sensibility of the face with its slanted eyes and small smiling protruding mouth belongs to a period of about fifty years around 600 BC, when the recoalescence of styles developed in the northern and southern parts of the country achieved a harmonious balance.

The man's name, carved on the lower part of the back pillar, has been lost. The upper part gives his most important title, "Administrator of the Domains of Neit (goddess of Sais)," and the beginning of the curiously cryptic appeal to the "local god" that scholars call the Saite formula.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bust of an Administrator of the Domain of Neit
  • Period: Late Period, Saite
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 26
  • Date: ca. 600 BC
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: Gray/green schist
  • Dimensions: H. 10.9 × W. 8.9 × D. 6 cm (4 5/16 × 3 1/2 × 2 3/8 in.)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1976
  • Object Number: 1976.325
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.