Ushabti with interesting inscription
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Object number
AR2478
| Object: |
Egyptian ushabti for Kaenamun
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| Material: |
Green faience with black paint
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| Period: |
19th to 20th dynasty of ancient Egypt. C. 1292 BC to 1085 BC, New Kingdom. |
| Description: |
Egyptian funerary statuette with a mummy shaped body. Details are summarily modelled, arms are crossed in front of the chest, wearing a tripartite wig. Further details are painted in black, an agricultural implement in each hand, collar, features of the face emphasized, wig fully coloured in black. A vertical column of framed hieroglyphs on the front reading as follows: KA(.j)-nxt, Kai-necht, My Ka/my life force is strong. The interpretation is uncertain, especially because of the disputed interpretation of cHD. Prof. Dieter Kurth is arguing for the above reading and is discussion the problem in his book Hausgrabungen 2, p. 85-89. An alternative reading is: cHD wcjr KA-n-Jmn mAa-xrw, Osiris, the overseer, Kaenamun, justified. It identifies the deceased by name, whereas Kaenamun means soul of Amun, if you prefer this interpretation. |
| 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: |
139mm tall.
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| Condition: |
Good condition. Broken and repaired across the middle. Most of the original paint still present with only minor wear.
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| Provenance: |
Acquired by us in 2018 from a German auction house. Previously anonymously held, acquired in 2016 from Gorny & Mosch, auction 243, lot no. 499. Previously in the German private collection A. Bade. Acquired from Aton Gallery, Germany (with expertise). Previously in the Dutch private collection B. Jansen. Acquired into the collection in the 1970ies.
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| References: |
Cf. G. Janes, Shabtis: A Private View - Ancient Egyptian Funerary Statuettes in European Private Collections, p. 38f, no. 15. Cf. H. A. Schlögl, A. Brodbeck, Ägyptischen Totenfiguren aus öffentlichen und privaten Sammlungen der Schweiz, p. 124, no. 65. |
| 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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