Architectural models illustrated a planned feature on a smaller scale. This model likely depicts a sistrum sound box, the upper part of an ancient Egyptian Hathor column from the Late to Ptolemaic periods.1 In the front of the soundbox is a uraeus with a sun disk framed by a shrine doorway. The niches above may represent a spandrel or clerestory. The sides and back of the naos are crudely finished with visible tool marks to show sculptors how to rough out the form. Two vertical channels are on either side of the recess.
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Examples in https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2016/hathor-column. See also Tomoum, Nadja Samir. 2005. The sculptors’ models of the Late and Ptolemaic periods: a study of the type and function of a group of ancient Egyptian artefacts. Translated by Brenda Siller. Cairo: National Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage; Supreme Council of Antiquities., catalog nos. 181–183, pls. 87–89, and pl. 91a. ↩︎
Bibliography
- Tomoum 2005
- Tomoum, Nadja Samir. 2005. The sculptors’ models of the Late and Ptolemaic periods: a study of the type and function of a group of ancient Egyptian artefacts. Translated by Brenda Siller. Cairo: National Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage; Supreme Council of Antiquities.