Ca. 3500-2200 BC. Predynastic Period - Old Kingdom. An anthropomorphic statuette of a human figure. It is highly schematised, with no clear detail nor attempt at life-like features. The head is oversized for the body, and detailed only with incised eyes, a mouth, and a nose. The arms rest at the hips and have rounded ends instead of hands, as do the legs instead of feet. The torso has little detail except for a navel. The enlarged hips are quite typical of the so-called 'female figurine'. This fascinating object type has a difficult history of interpretation, but they are currently thought to have been representations of the life-giving abilities of women and birth, abilities which were evoked by these figurines within tombs in the hopes of the tomb-owner gaining new life and being reborn in the afterlife. These objects were typically highly schematised to focus on the reproductive elements of the body alone. Size: L:95mm / W:33mm ; 35g. From a London private family collection; formerly acquired on the UK art market in the 1960s - 1970s; thence by descent.