Rahotep_and_Wife_Nofret_Statue

The statue of Prince Rahotep and wife Nofret was made during the 4th dynasty of Egypt during his father, Sneferu reign (c.2613 BC - c.2589 BC). The statues were built when Egypt began building the one of the most famous structure in the world, the pyramid. Sneferu, Rahotep’s father, can especially be credited to the true shape of the pyramids. During this time, especially during Sneferu’s rule, Egypt was in a period of prosperity, peace, and contact with other places in the world through trade. The statue of Prince Rahotep and wife Nofret was built around 2580 BCE by an anonymous person. The statue is depicting the Rahotep and Nofret’s regal status through the usage of realism in the size of the Rahotep and Nofret, their facial expression, and the eyes. The artist is able to highlight their regal status by adding realism the statue and their facial expression. The artist is able to do this by using an exact size of the Rahotep and Nofret, unlike before when important people were made to a large size, through the glass inlaid eyes, and the shape of the mouth (best seen in Rahotep’s frown) and the nose. Their regal status can also been seen through their facial expression (solemnness and self-assuredness) and their vacant stare that other royal statues of the same dynasty had. One antecedent of the statue of Prince Rahotep and wife Nofret is the Ka Statue of King Zoser (c. 2750 BCE. , Old Kingdom, 3rd Dynasty ) because of his facial expression that lets us know that he is a royal and because of his folded arm across his chest like Rahotep’s. The statue influenced other statues later on in Egypt like the statue of King Hor who has the same glass quartz in his eyes like Rahotep and Nofret.