Practice Sketch or Votive Offering

The elaborate wig, aquiline nose, fastidious indication of fat folds on the neck, and elongated and downward-sloping eye all indicate that the king depicted here was one of the Ramesside rulers of Dynasty XIX or XX. The several discrepancies between the inked lines and the incisions suggest that the piece was a practice sketch for a wall relief or painting, but it may have also served as a temple offering to the king. Around the crown of the head is an intricate circlet consisting of two uraeus cobras affixed to the brow and side. These cobras were insignias of royalty.