A black serpentine sculpture of male wearing a kilt from Aswan. Male figures wearing these long kilts first emerge in the Twelfth Dynasty, and figures with hands flat against the kilt a little later (according to Bourriau p55, not before the reign of Senusret III). This probably a statue of the tomb owner. The back pillar of this statue bears the beginning of an offering formula. The item was formerly part of the Grenfell collection purchased by Sir Henry Wellcome at auction in July 1920. Field Marshall Francis Wallace Grenfell (1841-1925) was an Egyptologist who commanded troops in Aswan around 1885. Between 1885 and 1886 he opened a number of Old to Middle Kingdom tombs in this area. The inscriptions on these tombs show that they belonged to the commanders of troops who organised expeditions to Nubia. It is possible that this statue came from one of these tombs. Stylistically, the piece was dated to between the Thirteen and Sixteenth Dynasties by Connor.

Anonymous. 1996. The face of Egypt: Swansea Festival exhibition: 5 October 1996–5 January 1997. Swansea: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. [Cat. 9] Connor, Simon (2020) Être et paraître, Statues royales et privées de la fin du Moyen Empire et de la Deuxième Période intermédiaire (1850–1550 av. J.-C.). Middle Kingdom Studies 10. Golden House Publications: London. [p. 380] Janine Bourriau 1988 'Pharaohs and Mortals. Egyptian Art in the Middle Kingdom' Cambridge University Press.