Seating figure of Cherti-hotep

The seated figures of Ancient Egypt have not taken up a relaxed and restful pose, but rather sit enthroned in a mood of total concentration. In hieroglyphs the standard symbol for ‘man’ is a figure crouching on the ground. The sign showing a man seated on a stool or chair means ‘honourable’ and is set after the name of the deceased person. On burial reliefs it is in this pose that the deceased person is presented with the offerings. A person who had himself represented in this manner already saw himself as a member of the circle of the enlightened who could be certain of eternal life. The standing-striding figure looks back on the active life of the individual and serves to preserve his ability to live to the full in the afterlife. The seated figure, on the other hand, looks forward. In other words it looks to the future as it seeks to prepare mortalman for a life of spiritual contemplation, the vita contemplativa; it assists in the metamorphosis of a mortal into an immortal being who is pleasing to god and who has risen above the travails of earthly life. Sometimes the seated figure is wrapped in a closely fitting cloak. This item of clothing, which was not commonly used in everyday life, served to lend the figure an additional air of the eternal, for this wrapping of the body was linked to the mummy-like figure of Osiris, the god of resurrection. Like the standing-striding figure, the seated figure also establishes its own living ‘space’ in which, and from within which, it acts. It is defined by the cubiform seat with the protruding base plate, and frequently by a pillar or plate at the back.