Légende

Sheikh Beled at Giza Museum. The sculpture actually depicts the priest Ka-Aper. Sheikh el-Beled means village chief. The sculpture bears this name as the workers who dug it out thought they had found their recently deceased village chief. Kaaper or Ka’aper, also commonly known as Sheikh el-Beled, was an ancient Egyptian scribe and priest who lived between the late 4th Dynasty and the early 5th Dynasty (around 2500 BCE). Despite his rank being not among the highest, he is well known for his famous wooden statue. His mastaba was discovered by Auguste Mariette in the Saqqara necropolis, just north of the Step Pyramid of Djoser. During the excavation, the Egyptian diggers unearthed the statue and, apparently impressed by its exceptional realism, they called it Sheikh el-Beled likely because of a certain similarity between the statue and their local elder. The statue (seen here), located in the Cairo Egyptian Museum, was carved from sycamore wood, and depicts the corpulent Kaaper while walking with a staff.

Crédit

Photo12/Universal Images Group/Ivy Close Images

Notre référence

UMG25A01_203

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

53,0Mo (2,4Mo) / 30,0cm x 44,3cm / 3541 x 5232 (300dpi)

Mots clés

ancient Egypt sculpture sheikh beled Kaaper Ka’aper statue Kaaper statue Ka’aper wooden statue ancient Egypt auguste mariette Sheikh el-Beled Sheikh Beled statue beled wooden statue beled 2500 bc third millennium bc 4th dynasty Egypt 4th dynasty Egypt 5th dynasty 5th dynasty ancient Egypt ancient egypt wooden statue Saqqara wooden statue Saqqara Egypt tomb finds statue sycamore wood kaaper wooden staff ancient Egypt funeral customs ancient Egypt statue ancient Egyptian scribe Egyptian scribe ancient Egyptian priest ancient scribe cairo Egyptian museum ancient Egypt art ancient Egypt sculpture