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LOT 0022
Egyptian Blue Faience Shabti for Nesitanebisheru
THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, 21ST DYNASTY, CIRCA 980-935 B.C.
6 1/2 in. (314 grams total, 16.5 cm high including stand).
A vibrant blue-glazed mummiform shabti of princess Nesitanebisheru, daughter of Pinudjem II, on a custom-made display stand; modelled with arms crossed over the chest, holding a hoe in each hand, wearing a tripartite wig; netted seed bag painted on the back; the bottom half of the figure bearing eight columns of hieroglyphic text in black giving a version of the shabti spell reading:
(1) The illuminated one, the Osiris Nesitanebisheru, she says:
(2) ‘O this shabti, if one counts, if one reckons to do
(3) for the Osiris Nesitanebisheru, to cultivate the fields,
(4) to irrigate the riparian lands, to transport by boat the sand of
(5) the east (to) the west and vice-versa – now indeed obstacles are implanted
(6) therewith – as a man at his duties (to do for ?)
(7) the Osiris Nesitanebisheru, to do all the works that are to be done
(8) in God’s land at any time to serve, ‘here I am,’ (you shall say).
The object comes from the well known Deir el-Bahari cache (near Thebes) first discovered in 1870.
Ex Zurich Antiquities Fair.
Ex R. Liechti, Geneva, acquired from the above.
Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11598-198961.
Cf. Janes, G., Shabtis: A Private View, Paris, 2002, pp.107-9, for a similar example; Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta USA,
inventory no. 2018.010.299, for a worker shabti of Nesitanebisheru.
Nesitanebisheru’s burial was discovered in the famous ‘Royal Cache I’ at Deir el-Bahari (DB 320), with many dozens of coffins and vast quantities of funerary equipment belonging to pharaohs, including Thutmose III and Ramesses II, queens, and other royals, as well as elite members of society that had been reburied by Amun priests to hide them from tomb robbers. Nesitanebisheru’s coffin and burial equipment, including her shabtis, were found at the very end of the c. 70m long tomb in a chamber which served as a family vault for her father, the High Priest of Amun, Pinudjem II, and his principal wife Neskhons. While her worker shabtis are all mostly similar in style with 6-8 text columns, the composition of their
inscriptions are not consistent with different openings and variations to the content (often including several peculiarities). Curiously, her titles do not appear in her shabti inscription, unlike those for her mother.
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LOT 0022
Egyptian Blue Faience Shabti for Nesitanebisheru
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000€29,000 - 40,600 (for guidance only)$33,750 - 47,250 (for guidance only)
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Egyptian Multi-Stranded Mummy Bead Necklace Collection
Late Period, 664-525 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
Comprising three restrung composition necklaces, each composed of multiple strands of polychrome beads of mainly annular and tubular types. 75 grams total, 68-76 cm long
Acquired before 1979. From the private collection of Mr F. A., South Kensington, London, UK; thence by descent 2014.
Red and yellow faience were among the new colours appeared in the XVIIIth Dynasty, but they were in use until the Late Period. It was ideally formed from a core of sand and quartz and a vitreous alkaline glaze. It was the preferred medium of Egyptian jewellers even before the Fist Dynasty, because of its malleability and its ability to imitate other more expensive materials thanks to the colour of the glaze. -
Romano-Egyptian Silver Ring with Cat and Kittens
Roman Period, 30 B.C.-323 AD.Sold for (Inc. bp): £845
D-shaped in profile with flared shoulders, bezel with a reclining cat and two sitting kittens facing in opposite directions. 9.21 grams, 25.43 mm overall, 19.32 mm internal diameter (approximate size British J 1/2, USA 5, Europe 9.32, Japan 9)
Private collection formed since the 1940s. UK art market. Property of an Essex gentleman. -
Egyptian Green Faience Shabti with Hieroglyphic Inscription
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £650
Olive-green glazed composition with detailed facial features, hands, tools, seed bag, dorsal pillar; T-shaped hieroglyphic text: 'sḥḏ wsir nb pḥ.ty ..ns(?) mꜢʾ ḫrw ms n ipt-wrt(?)' ‘The illuminated, the Osiris, Lord of Strength ..ns(?), true of voice’ born to Ipet-weret(?)’; mounted on a custom-made stand. 169 grams total, 15 cm high including stand
Part of an old collection dating back to the 19th century. Ex property of a gentleman, acquired before the 1980s. Private collection of Mr T.H., Norfolk, UK.
