Details

LOT 0036

Egyptian Faience Bull-Headed Shabti from the Serapeum at Saqqara

NEW KINGDOM, RAMESSIDE PERIOD, 1295-1069 B.C.

5 7/8 in. (152 grams total, 15 cm including stand).

Pale faience figurine representing a bull-headed mummy adorned with a tripartite wig and human arms crossed over the chest with hands holding a pick and a hoe; only the lower legs and feet missing; the opening part of a central panel of hieroglyphic inscription reads: Wsir ͗ ḥp, 'the Osiris Apis'; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Provenance

Probably found at the Serapeum at Saqqara in the 19th century.
From the private collection of the late Mr M.S.C., Norfolk, UK, formed 1950s-1960s.

Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.

Literature

Cf. Mariette, A., Le Serapeum de Memphis, Paris, 1882, pl. 19, for others of the type.

Footnotes

While most shabtis served as substitutes or servants of the deceased and were placed in the tomb, some, like this example, were votive objects deposited in places of great sanctity. Virtually all known Apis shabtis come from excavations in the Serapeum catacombs led by Auguste Mariette from 1850 to 1853. They all belong to activity dating to the 19th and 20th Dynasties (circa 1295-1069 BC) and were unearthed in various chambers where they had been placed as votive offerings to honour the deified Apis bulls.