How do we know that the figure on the left is male? I don't really see any signs of gender. But, I'm not an expert on Egyptian culture either. Any thoughts?

FIRST impression when I saw the family I thought the first person was a female the male and the son. I thought the female was the stronger person-male thereby placing her first and having the next person the male in the middle to support the two

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Course: The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Unit 1

Lesson 5: Family and community

Statue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic icon

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Met curator Marsha Hill on reverence in Statue of two men and a boy that served as a domestic icon dating from the Amarna Period of Egypt’s New Kingdom, c. 1353–1336 B.C.E.

All of the individuals in this small group are males, represented according to the conventions of Amarna art. The intriguing group has been variously interpreted as a family comprising a grandfather, a father, and a son, or as one man at three different stages of life. The latter is most unlikely as the multiple representations of a single individual in one statue are not shown interacting as they do here. In fact careful examination of the faces and figures points to the fact that the statue is a kind of domestic icon. The figure at left is a high-status individual and likely the oldest; he is probably a revered relative or the respected overlord of the man and boy who stand closely entwined with one another. The statuette would probably have received veneration in the household of its owner while he was a student in Rome.

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Residuum
Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Residuum's post “How do we know that the f...”
How do we know that the figure on the left is male? I don't really see any signs of gender. But, I'm not an expert on Egyptian culture either. Any thoughts?
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- dinah balarangappa
  Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to dinah balarangappa's post “FIRST impression when I s...”
  FIRST impression when I saw the family I thought the first person was a female the male and the son. I thought the female was the stronger person-male thereby placing her first and having the next person the male in the middle to support the two
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  (5 votes)
lykaren
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to lykaren's post “What if the male to the l...”
What if the male to the left is actually an older brother? He appears younger than the man in the middle, but that's just my opinion.
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Video transcript

Small sculptures like this have a little magnetism. It makes you come close and admire and imagine things about it. It’s a group of three males from about 1340 B.C., the Amarna period. It’s a period famed for naturalism. You can see that in the slumped bodies and the gestures. The man in the middle has his arm around the boy as if he’s drawing him close to him and kind of protecting him, and then the two men are holding hands. That’s a very beautiful holding of hands, with one man’s clasping the other man’s hand lying flat. Every face is different. The man on the left has a rather lined, heavy face, and the corners of his mouth are even drooping. And the man in the middle looks more equable and calm. And the boy has a little boy’s small mouth. You start saying, “Who were they, and what are their personalities?” We actually know these statues were used in domestic contexts, in little house shrines, to show devotion to an ancestor, and keep on asking for their protection in life. After spending time with it, I think that the man in the middle is the person who gives us access into what’s going on. The man on his right is probably an esteemed ancestor. He has a fancy wig, he has very elaborate clothes, and a handkerchief that he’s holding. From the side you see he has a wide stride. On the right, I imagine that is the middle man’s little son. And he wants that child to receive the blessings that accrue from his attention to the elder. It might have stood in the middle man’s house, and then it might have been kept by the son’s family. You know, handed down, taking on different identities through time, too. That’s a story, but it’s something like that. It’s really a fascinating statue that just puts all of these questions in your face. You empathize, you want to understand it. It reminds me of the way we relate to old family snapshots. We cherish them, and pore over them for some clues to draw us close to those people.