Egyptian Faience Pataikos Amulet

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.

Rectangular lid fragment with rounded upper corners, plano-convex in section; painted image of two jackals representing Anubis, the god of embalming, crouching above rectangular frames, probably tombs, with a sceptre held in its forepaws; remains of fixing pegs to the reverse. 268 grams, 26.5 cm wide



J.H.H. Claessen (1926-2006), Bladel, Netherlands. Acquired by the present owner from the above. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11944-209616.

Comprising: white rectangular bead with Tilapia fish in high-relief and two cobras flanking a hem ideogram; turquoise frog on heater-shaped base with serpent to the underside; green scaraboid with wedjat to the carapace, Hathor sistrum with cow's horns to the underside; green ram-headed scaraboid with hieroglyphs to the underside; green cylinder with scarab motif; green wedjat with a cartouche of Thutmose III to the reverse; green rectangular bead with djed pillar flanked by ostrich feathers and incuse hieroglyphs to the reverse. 14.3 grams total, 14-27 mm



Two amulets with Bonhams, London, Knightsbridge, UK, 3 October 2000, lot 385 [Part]. Private Swiss collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11593-198956. Accompanied by a copy of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages.