Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born Manlius - (Head) from Tomb, Egypt - unknown - T-Shirt

A pencil study in strict profile shows an Egyptian-style head with a heavy-lidded eye, a broad headband and a coiled ornament rising from the headdress.

Visual Elements & Composition

The figure faces left in clean, continuous outlines with almost no internal shading. A long, straight nose, firm full lips and a rounded chin sit above a plain neck. The eye is drawn as an almond with a heavy outer line and a circular iris, set under a sharply defined brow. A wide band crosses the forehead, and the coiled ornament climbs toward the top edge of the sheet. Grey pencil lines dominate against cream paper, and the large close-up crop keeps the profile filling the frame.

Meaning & Symbolism

The head reflects the formal profile, regular features and stylised headdress of Egyptian sculpture. The record places the original in a tomb, so the figure is a funerary carving or relief, made to hold an enduring likeness of the dead. Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, born in Manlius, New York, was known for portraits of American public figures, and this sheet shows his interest in recording the art of other cultures alongside that work. The drawing preserves the composed, idealised character of the original for a viewer who never saw it in the tomb.

On the T-Shirt

Because the design is built from fine, unbroken lines, it reads best up close, where the profile, the eye and the headband stay sharp. Worn across the chest, the head sits in the centre of the wearer's view, so the quiet, measured expression of the figure becomes the focus of the outfit.