Egyptian Faience Figure of Bes

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). 314 grams total, 16.5 cm high including stand



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.

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.

A limestone figure modelled in the half-round, lying naked on a rectangular bed, executed with semi-naturalistic anatomical detailing, voluminous coiffed hair and painted necklace, armbands and distinctive ornamental girdle at the waist; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 109 grams total, 11.5 cm including stand

Fine condition.

with Secret Eye Gallery, New York City, 1977. with Arte Primitivo, New York, USA, 8 October, 2003, lot 66. Private collection of Professor Kenneth Graham, London, UK. Accompanied by an original Arte Primitivo catalogue page. Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.

This syncretic figure combines the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Greek goddess Aphrodite, a deity popular from the 3rd century B.C. into the Roman Period, who embodied aspects of fertility, marriage, and childbirth.

An opaque black glass inlay in the form of the head of Anubis in jackal form; repaired. 19.2 grams, 58 mm high



French collection, 1960s-early 2000s. From an important Paris gallery, France.