LOT 0017

Egyptian Deir el-Bahari Bright Blue Glazed Faience Shabti of Nesitanebisheru, Daughter of Pinedjem II, High Priest of Amun, and Neskhons

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, 21ST DYNASTY, CIRCA 980-935 B.C.

6 in. (229 grams, 15.1 cm).

Deep blue, lustrous-glazed mummiform shabti with a tripartite wig and modelled arms; each hand holding a hoe, with the implements, wig, and facial details rendered in black; on the back of the figure, below the wig, hangs a centrally positioned trapezoidal seed bag in black; the bottom half of the figure bears eight columns of hieroglyphic text in black, giving a version of the shabti spell. [No Reserve]

From the cache of mummies of the priests of Amun at Deir el-Bahari, found by the Abdul Rassoul family circa 1910.
E.E.S. sale, November 1967, sold for £5.00.
Acquired from Richardson, St Christopher’s Place, Wigmore Street. London, late 1960s, for £7.00 and 10 shillings.
From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Paul Whelan.
Accompanied by an old handwritten information card by Peter Clayton, collection no.122.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13491-262881.

Cf. Moje, J., Schabtis und verwandte Figurinen. Mit den Beständen der Berliner Antikensammlung, des Museums für Vor- und Frühgeschichte und des Vorderasiatischen Museums, Dritte Zwischenzeit, Teil 1, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Band 4, Corpus Antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum, London, 2024, pp. 180-183, for several examples of Nesitanebisheru shabtis in Berlin.