Naophoros Statuette of Pa kher Khonsu
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Description
This kneeling naophoros statuette of a man named Pa-kher-Khonsu was discovered by G. Legrain in the Karnak Cache in 1905 (CK 549). As indicated by the inscriptions on his statuette, Pa-kher-Khonsu held a number of important titles, such as the ‘God’s Father’, ‘Stolist of Coptos’, and ‘Overseer of the Seal’. One of his priestly titles: ‘The Priest of Gold’ connects him with the cult of goddess Hathor. The statuette shows him wearing a shoulder-length striated hair-wig and a short plain kilt. He kneels, sitting back on his heels with his feet perpendicular to the ground. Between his fingertips he holds a rectangular vaulted-top naos, housing a figure of goddess Mut depicted with the head of a lioness surmounted with a cobra and a sun-disk. The lintel of the naos is decorated with the winged sun-disk, and on either side of its door is a vertical column of hieroglyphs providing the name and titles of Pa-kher-Khonsu. On the statuette base is a horizontal line of inscription, and on the back pillar are two further vertical columns of texts reading an offering prayer in his favour. The statuette is probably to be dated to the first half of Dynasty 26, to the reign of Psamtek I or Apries.