Masterpiece. Carved circa 2532-2510 B.C.E., the Standing Sculpture of King Menkaure and Queen Kha-merer-nebu II is both a masterpiece of Egyptian sculpture and an illustration of the Egyptian conventions for representing a king and queen. The sculpture is just under life-size, 54¾ inches tall. The sculptor used graywacke, a hard gray stone that the Egyptians prized. Archaeologist George Reisner discovered the statue in 1910 in the valley temple of this king's pyramid at Giza.

Conventions. This sculpture clearly illustrates the main conventions of Egyptian royal sculpture. The sculptor placed Menkaure on the viewer's left and the queen on the right. The ancient viewer would have recognized immediately that Menkaure was the more important figure of this pair. The viewer's left is always the place of honor in Egyptian representations. The king and queen were also conventionally dressed...