Egyptian ushabti of the Royal Scribe Hor-maa-kheru
€14,500
available
Object number
AR3354
| Object: |
Egyptian ushabti of the Royal Scribe Hor-maa-kheru
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| Material: |
Faience in colors of green and brown.
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| Period: |
Rule of Pharao Amasis II (also referred to as Ahmose II), 570 BC to 526 BC, towards the end of the 26th dynasty, Late Period of Ancient Egypt. |
| Description: |
Large Egyptian funerary figurine for the King’s Scribe Hor-maa-kheru. The ushabti in mummy posture has a back pillar and stands on a small base plate. Wearing a tripartite wig with visible ears, attached god's beard. The legs and feet are depicted summarily, the arms crossed over the chest. The ushabti holds agricultural implements in his hands, a hoe in his left hand, a hand plow in his right hand and a seed bag hanging over his shoulder. The front and sides are inscribed with indented hieroglyphs, arranged in eight lines and separated by horizontal lines. The text reads as follows. O these ushabti, when one calls upon Osiris, royal scribe Hor-maa-kheru, born of Meret-Neith, to do some work that is to be done in the realm of the dead, Indeed, evil is imposed upon him, as a man to his duty. "Behold, here am I" you shall say at any time spent there, whether in cultivating the fields, irrigating the river banks, bringing the sand (fertilizer) of the East to the West, or vice versa. "Here I am" you shall say, if you shall be counted, each in his hour. Strike down his evil as he finds evil. The text is based on the 6th chapter of the Book of the Dead. H. A. Schlögl and A. Brodbeck (see references below) state that this is version VII A of the spell, with an unusual final sentence. It is an artistically high-quality and impressive figure. |
| Background: |
In Ancient Egypt, a tradition of equipping the graves of the deceased with small funerary figurines gradually became established. The figurines were made of clay, stone, wood or metal, some were covered with faience. They were named with the ancient Egyptian word for "answerer". Transcriptions for this are ushabti, shabti or shawabti. Most commonly used and apparently popular were terracotta ushabtis covered with a fine greenish or blue faience. They were usually 10cm to 20cm tall. Those who could afford it had the ushabtis elaborately engraved or simply painted. The fine engravings of many pieces survived until today. Paint suffered more from the ravages of time, but fortunately some painted figures too have been preserved. The majority of the ushabtis found shows strong erosion and can only be recognized as such by their outlines. Or they were already that basic in their appearence when made in order to cut costs. Ushabtis have been resting with the deceased since the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt around the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest known figurines date from the 11th Dynasty. It seems they represented the dead initially, but their function changed until the New Kingdom. At that time the ushabti were to serve as workers in the afterlife, standing in for the deceased, so that he or she was freed from hard physical labour (6th chapter of the Book of the Dead). With this change in purpose it made sense to add more ushabtis to the grave increasing the labour force. This resulted in up to 365 ushabtis per tomb, e.g. for Tut-Anch-Amun - one "answerer" for each day of the solar year. Either the figures were placed directly in the grave or else richly painted or otherwise decorated vessels were used for storage, the best known type being the so-called wooden ushabti boxes. |
| Dimensions: |
19.0cm height without modern base. 21.8cm height with modern base.
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| Condition: |
Very good condition. At the base of the figurine, on the underside there is a larger chip on the edge. Some abrasion and minor chips to the surface, most noticeable on the nose and the god's beard. Otherwise the substance is completely intact. There is a modern drill hole on the underside through which the figurine can stand on the modern base using a pin. The figurine cannot stand without a base. The base is made of black lacquered wood with a felted underside.
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| Provenance: |
Acquired by us on the Swiss art market in 2022. Previously in the Swiss private collection U. F.-K. Acquired at the 21st Swiss Art and Antiquities Fair in Basel from the Swiss antiquities dealer Elsa Bloch-Diener (1922–2012) from Bern. A copy of the receipt dated 14 June 1980 is available. Bloch-Diener acquired the ushabti at Sotheby’s New Bond Street London, "Antiquities" auction 4 December 1979, lot 12, illustrated in plate V. It came to the auction from the property of Michael Cane. The tomb of Hor-maa-kheru lies in the necropolis of Saqqara, near Cairo. It was excavated by the Egyptian tourist guide and antiquities dealer Youssef Masarra (1828-1862). This and all of the owner's other ushabtis came into circulation at that time. |
| References: |
We were able to find further funerary figurines from the same owner in the following literature sources and in the art trade. 1. H. A. Schlögl, A. Brodbeck, Ägyptische Totenfiguren aus öffentlichen und privaten Sammlungen der Schweiz, p. 140f, no. 169. It is the piece from Sotheby's New York auction, 24 November 1987, lot 51. 2. Sotheby's New York auction 3 June 2015, lot 26 (sold for 17,500 USD, equivalent to 16,000 EUR at the time). The same figurine later at Christie's New York auction 16 June 2020, lot 176 (sold for 18,750 USD, equivalent to 15,000 EUR at the time). 3. Egyptian Museum Berlin, inv. no. 7371, acquired in 1874 by Dr. Helbig in Rome. 4. University College London, inv. no. 561, published in Petrie, Shabtis, plate XLIII, no. 561. The figurine published there is only a fragment. 5. J.-F. and L. Aubert, Statuettes égyptiennes, no. 234. That piece is from the Paris art trade. 6. Schneider, Shabtis I, p. 146, section 4, mentions an example from a Dutch private collection, without illustration. The ushabti presented here is the 7th figurine known to us worldwide from the grave goods of Hor-maa-kheru. |
| Literature: |
A good introduction and overview on Egyptian ushabtis in just one volume is given by Glenn Janes in Shabtis: A Private View - Ancient Egyptian Funerary Statuettes in European Private Collections.
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| Authenticity: |
We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.
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