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JOHN D. COONEY

queen, but wc must remember that this great sculpture was placed in the tempie when in a far from finished State and, quite certainly, the moustache would havc becn thc finał addition to this masterpiece. A moustache is again found on the seated life-size alabaster statuę of Mycerinus now in Cairo¹. Painted in black it has now probably faded from sight. Curiously, this fine sculpture is today rarely reproduced. Additionally, moustaches cxist or existed on scvcral of the triads, all of them painted. The triad of the Hare-nome, now in Boston and probably the finest of all thc triads, clearly had a moustache as is evident in Rcisner's publication ². Still another existcd on triad no. 10 representing the Theban nome now in Cairo³. On the triad of the Jackal-nome, Mycerinus again wears a moustache as he does also on the Diospolis-Parva triad. The expedition photographs of the so-called Shepseskaf alabaster head in Boston seem to indicate that it, too, worc a moustache, but the illustrations are not elear cnough for certainty⁴. Thcrc is no point in cxtending this list of Mycerinus sculptures wearing moustaches. Enough cxamples have been rccorded to establish that this dctail was a physical attribute of this king. The moustaches on the Mycerinus sculptures, curiously disregarded in the past, are the last occurrence of this dctail (with the exception of the Washington sculpture) in the entire history of royal sculpture in Egypt.

My thesis is that this dctail of thc moustache strongly supports the attribution of the Freer head to the immediate successor of Mycerinus, his presumed relative Shepseskaf. What would be morę natural than for this young man to emulate the habits and dress of his fathcr-in-law upon his sudden accession to the Egyptian throne? If thc use of a moustache were something apart, unrclated to the royal tradition of Dynasty IV, wc should expect to find it at scattered periods throughout Egyptian history but as I havc already remarked, it is unknown in royal representation after Dynasty IV. Unlike the Mycerinus moustaches, that on the Freer head is lightly incised. It is difficult to account for this detail except by the force of the immediate tradition of thc Mycerinus studios.

Other arguments, morę intangible than that based on the moustache, can be advanced to support this datę. On looking at photographs of the Washington head, I have been impressed for years at its generał resemblance to the representations in the Mycerinus sculptures, particularly those in the triads. But on placing these photographs against prints of the Mycerinus sculptures thc similarity substantially fades. Something remains, however, to bolster the suggested rclationship. There are the staring eyes and the high cheekbones, both Mycerinus characteristics, as wcll as the generał feeling of kinship. an intangible element but one which cannot be ignored. The Mycerinus facial typc

1

   Ibid., pl. 49.

2

   Ibid.. p|. 39.

3

   Ibid., pl. 41.

4

^g Ibid., pl. 52. 53.