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LOT 0503
Egyptian Blue Glazed Faience Shabti
LATE PERIOD, 664-332 B.C.
4 1/4 in. (72 grams, 10.7 cm).
With dorsal pillar, hands folded across the chest holding a pick and hoe, with a front panel of faintly impressed hieroglyphic text. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceEx M.S. Ciappara collection, Norfolk, UK, 1939-1950.
LiteratureCf. von Droste zu Hülsdorf, V. and Schlick-Nolte, B., Ägyptische Bildwerke II: Statuetten, Gefässe und Geräte, Melsungen, 1990, pp.167-169, no. 81, for the type.
FootnotesShabti figures were created to carry out heavy manual tasks on behalf of a person in the afterlife. They were often depicted with tools in their hands, such as baskets, mattocks, and hoes. Over time, the number of shabtis in a standard elite burial increased, from one in the Eighteenth Dynasty to several in the Nineteenth Dynasty, to one for every day of the year by the Third Intermediate Period. The number of shabtis remained in the hundreds during the Late Period.
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AUCTIONS:
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Egyptian Carnelian Fly Amulet
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
Carved with simple body and eye detailing and polished; drilled through the eyes for suspension. 0.44 grams, 13 mm
From an early 20th century collection, Surrey, UK.
Considering Egyptian artists often depicted fly whisks in the hands of pharaohs and high officials, one might assume that flies were simply a nuisance. However, the Egyptians held flies in high regard due to their quick speed, reactions, and persistence. Small fly amulets were made from various materials, including gold, silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian, amethyst, faience, and bone. These amulets were believed to protect against insect bites and ward off flying creatures through apotropaic magic. -
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Egyptian Faience Shabti for Nesy-Amun
Third Intermediate Period, 21st Dynasty, 1069-943 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,170
Modelled in deep blue faience with applied black detailing to the hair, eyes, seed bag, agricultural tools and three bands of hieroglyphs to the lower body reading giving the title and name of 'Nesy-Amun, Justified'; very rare. 75 grams, 11.1 cm
European collection, latterly in private UK collection, 1990. Read by John Taylor at the British Museum on 27 February 2009. Accompanied by a copy of a handwritten information card and a print out of the Christie's example.
Nesy-Amun was the Fourth Prophet of Amun in the 21st Dynasty. The mummy was recovered from the priest's hole, cache II, Deir el-Bahari. -
Egyptian Hardstone Tawaret Amulet
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £442
Modelled in the round as a standing hippopotamus (Tawaret) figure on a rectangular base with loop to the rear. 1.98 grams, 24 mm
From the collection of Doctor Girard, a collector for over 60 years. with Hotel des Ventes de Clermont-Ferrand, 22 May 2017. Property of a French collector.
The goddess Tawaret was a female hippopotamus with the arms and legs of a lion and the back and tail of a crocodile. Despite her fearsome appearance, Tawaret was a household deity and protector of women in childbirth.
