The man has a wig falling onto his shoulders and is wearing a short kilt. His legs are folded underneath him, and his left hand is placed on his chest. Unlike the typical statuary from the Old Kingdom, this man's self-image appears to be poor. Sobek-em-inu looks almost distressed, with his slightly upward glance. The expression of the broad mouth strengthens this impression. The strong musculature of the body is modelled according to the athletic ideal, but the posture is somewhat limp with its slightly drooping shoulders. It's almost as if the citizen depicted, who is part of a mighty centralized kingdom, is painfully aware of his social restrictions.
The revered one, the overseer of commodities Sobek-em-inu, born of Sat-hor-em-hat. An offering which the king gives, a mortuary offering of bread and beer, meat and poultry, to the Ka of the overseer of commodities Sobek-em-inu. His brother, whom he loves, Kheper-ka-re-ankh, lord of veneration; his father Hun, whom he loves, his brother, whom he loves and whom he praises, the overseer of commodities Sa-hat(hor). The revered one with Osiris, the overseer of commodities Sobek-em-inu, born of Sat-hor-em-hat. The revered one with Anubis who is upon his mountain, the overseer of commodities Sobek-em-inu, born of Sat-hor-em-hat.
Bibliography
Jaros-Deckert, B., Statuen des Mittleren Reichs und der 18. Dynastie. Corpus Antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum (CAA) 1 (1987) 6-13.
Hein, I. & H. Satzinger, Stelen des Mittleren Reiches einschließlich der I. und II. Zwischenzeit, Teil II. Corpus Antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum (CAA) 7 (1993) 8, 34.
Bergmann, E. von, Inschriftliche Denkmäler der Sammlung ägyptischer Alterthümer des österreichisches Kaiserhauses, in: Recueil de Travaux rélatifs à la philologie et à l'archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes (RecTrav) 12 (1890) 1-23.
Katalog: "5000 Jahre Ägyptische Kunst", Zürich (1961), 64, Kat.Nr. 146.
Seipel, W. (ed.), Götter Menschen Pharaonen, Speyer (1993) = Dioses, Hombres, Faraones, Ciudad de México (1993) = Das Vermächtnis der Pharaonen, Zürich (1994).
Satzinger, H., Das Kunsthistorische Museum in Wien. Die Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung. Zaberns Bildbände zur Archäologie 14. Mainz. 1994.