Statue of Harsomtusemhat

This statue of a character named Harsomtusemhat depicts an old man whose realistic and expressive features reflect the sculptural fashion of the Late Period. He wears a robe from his waist to his knees, and he is sitting with his legs tucked into his chest, his arms crossed and resting on his knees, with a shesehet sistrum held between his legs. The sistrum has a handle, a depiction of the face of the goddess Hathor and the monumental door through which the divinity’s ba entered. The role of the instrument was to appease the anger of the gods and prepare them for listening to prayers. The inscriptions on the front, back and around the base tell us that Harsomtusemhat was an influential man with a high-ranking social position at both civil and religious level. The statue was carved to be hung in a temple, perhaps in a Hathoric shrine in Memphis, to take part in the offerings made to the goddess Hathor.