Date: 31 May 1995 13:52:40 U
From: "Richard Beal" <richard_beal@memphis-orinst.uchicago.edu>

                      Egy.full-face portrait
French find rare full-face portrait in Egypt@
    By Jonathan Wright
    SAQQARA, Egypt (Reuter) - French archeologists working near
Cairo have found a rare example of full-face portraiture in
ancient Egyptian art -- one of very few known from tens of
thousands of representations spread over 2,000 years.
    Alain Zivie, director of the French mission at Saqqara, said
the archeologists came across it in the 1994-5 digging season
while clearing out late masonry from part of the tomb of
Aper-El, a vizier under the allegedly heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten.
    The bas-relief portrait is of Osiris, the god of the
Underworld, flanked by the two goddesses, Isis and Nephthys, and
it stands in a niche which probably had some cult function.
    ``They are carved de face (full-face), very exceptional and
very impressive. It's difficult to explain and of importance to
art history,'' Zivie told Reuters Tuesday at Saqqara, a major
necropolis about 16 miles south of Cairo.
    Zivie said the niche, which stands about six feet tall,
originally contained a painted scene of Aper-El, his son Huy and
other members of his family.
    This was partially defaced 20 to 30 years after his death,
in the 14th century BC, and the Osiris relief was carved on top.
    Ancient Egyptian artists almost invariably represented the
heads of gods, humans and animals in profile, with the notable
exception of Bes, the dwarf god of fun who many Egyptologists
think may have been of non-Egyptian origin.
    Zivie said the niche was exceptional in other ways too.
``Osiris is completely new at Saqqara. And New Kingdom tombs are
not common here either,'' he said.
    During the same season the French mission explored deeper
into another New Kingdom tomb, discovering an unusual pair of
statues of granary chief Mery-Sekhmet and his wife.
    The New Kingdom (about 1570 to 1080 BC) was the time when
ancient Egypt reached the peak of its power, running an empire
that stretched at times from Sudan to northern Syria.
    ``The statues are very important,'' Zivie said. ``It is the
first time such statues of the New Kingdom, carved in the rock,
have been discovered at Saqqara.''
    ``The faces of the man and the woman are quite beautiful. In
spite of the fragility of the stone and of the colors ... the
statues are well-preserved,'' he added.
 ^REUTER@
Reut12:35 05-30-95

Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Servic