This figure wears the long kilt of an elite man of the Middle Kingdom. His left arm is bent across his chest in a gesture of respect. The now missing right arm would have rested by his side.The shaven head is common on statues of men of the lower edge of the elite.

The image was once fully painted, though only traces now remain. An unusual feature is that the upper edge of his kilt appears to have been only indicated in paint.  Usually the waist band and the knot or bow that tied the ends of the large sheet of linen that wrapped around the body as kilt, were carved.  His slightly over-large head is common in wooden statues of this period, as is the slightly chubby body. 

The statue was probably placed in a tomb, possibly right in the coffin.  While the true aristocracy had statues of stone, often life-size, their stewards and minor officials made do with wooden images such as this.