LOT 0165 EGYPTIAN FAIENCE SHABTI
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Ca. 332 - 30 BC. Ptolemaic Dynasty. A deep blue-glazed faience shabti. The head wears a lappet wig and a false beard, with detailed facial features modelled on the front. The figure is mummiform, and two hands emerge on the chest holding an adze and a hoe (farming/irrigation implements) in raised relief. There is a dorsal pillar running down the back, and the front of the bound and mummiform legs is incised with a now-faint hieroglyphic inscription across five columns. The Egyptian idea of Paradise ('Sekhet Aaru' - "the Field of Reeds”) was an idealised reflection of Egypt itself, and this meant bountiful agriculture - something that required servants and farmhands to be taken to the afterlife. Shabti like this one were buried as grave goods, sometimes in groups of hundreds, to be brought to life for that very purpose. From the reign of Thutmose IV they were typically depicted with an adze, a hoe, and a seed bag to fulfil this function, taking the chores of Paradise off the deceased's hands. During this period, they were called upon using the Book of the Dead (chapter 6). Size: L:155mm / W:50mm ; 175g. From a London private family collection; formerly acquired on the UK art market in the 1960s - 1970s; thence by descent.
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