Egyptian Blue Faience Shabti with Hieroglyphic Inscription

Elegantly proportioned vessel with marvered trails to the body, neck and mouth; handles absent; mounted on a custom-made stand. 404 grams total, 18.5 cm including stand



Acquired from Arte Primitivo, New York City, U.S.A., circa 2010. Private collection of Professor Kenneth Graham, London, UK.

Modelled seated on a tongue-shaped base, with simple facial detailing and suspension loop to the back. 0.52 grams, 8 mm



From an early 20th century French collection.

The goddess Bastet was believed to be the daughter of the sun god and was shown with the features of a lion up until about 1000 B.C. when she was portrayed as a cat or human with a cat head. As the daughter of Ra she was associated with the rage inherent in the sun god's eye which was considered to be his instrument of vengeance. Her development into a cat goddess occurred during the New Kingdom but did not fully develop until the Late Period. She was still associated with the destructive power of the sun and was shown on the prow of the solar boat, decapitating the evil serpent Apophis in the Book of the Dead. The maternal, protective and hunting characteristics of the cat are obvious in Bastet and she was seen as a protector of pregnant women and young children. In the Pyramid Texts she is invoked by the deceased king to act as his protector and to help him reach the sky to join the sun god; the king proclaims that Bastet is his mother and nurse. Like her counterpart, Sekhmet, Bastet has an aggressive side and, in a text from Karnak, Amenhotep II described his enemies being slaughtered like the victims of Bastet. The goddess had a shrine at Karnak, where she is known as the 'Lady of Asheru' which aligns her closely with the goddess Mut, the consort of Amun-Ra. Her most famous shrine was in the north-east Delta region, at Bubastis, and was known as Per-Bastet or 'the House of Bastet.' Herodotus describes the festival of Bastet as one of the most elaborate in all of Egypt and identifies her with the Greek Artemis. Cemeteries of cats have been excavated at Bubastis and at Saqqara and Memphis.

Rectangular plaque with ledge to the lower edge, ribbed loop above, the half-round figures of the goddesses Nephthys and Isis wearing their characteristic headdresses flank the figure of the young Horus wearing the sidelock of youth. 9.1 grams, 37 mm high



From an early Home Counties, UK, collection, 1930-1940. Ex London, UK, collection.

The deities of this triad are the protagonists associated with the myth of Osiris.