Egyptian Head of a Noblewoman from a Banquet Scene

A composition amulet fragment in the form of the head and upper torso of a goddess wearing a long lappet wig and remains of a crown, with stylised detailing to the face; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 3.7 grams total, 22 mm high (32 mm high including stand)

Fine condition.

From an earlier 20th century collection. with Charles Ede, London, UK, stock number 2700. Acquired circa 1999-2002. Property of a South Oxfordshire private collector.

A glazed composition shabti fragment representing the head of a bull surmounted by a sun-disc between its horns, wearing a lappet wig and with human arms crossed over the chest; the missing lower portion continued the shape of a mummiform human body; the back of the figure flat and bearing faint traces of inscription, the opening begins with a common shabti introduction which appears to be followed (as would be expected) by the name of syncretic deity Osiris Apis. 34 grams, 60 mm



Acquired early 1990s. Ex private American collection; thence by descent. Private collection since 1998. Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.

The figure comes from the catacombs at Saqqara where the sacred Apis bulls were buried, known today as the Serapeum. The Apis bull was associated principally with the gods Ptah, patron deity of Memphis, and Osiris, and when one died it was afforded the kind of lavish burial befitting a pharaoh. All bull-headed shabtis date to the 19th and 20th Dynasties and were left as offerings beside the huge granite sarcophagi of the deified bulls. These shabtis were among hundreds of objects recovered from the catacombs by Auguste Mariette during his excavations there between 1850-1853. The Musée du Louvre in Paris holds the largest collection of artefacts from the Serapeum outside Egypt, including around 120 Apis shabtis. They reveal that the this fragment with its sun-disc is from a rare variant of this shabti type; just 5 of the Louvre examples have sun-discs (S 1823, N 5234 51-54), the remaining shabtis have a bull’s head with short stubby horns and no sun-disc.

A bright blue glazed worker shabti modelled on a rectangular base, arms crossed over the chest, detailing in black to the wig and eyes, holding a pair of hoes, a seed bag to the back, the hair tied with a seshed headband; a vertical column of hieroglyphs to the front of the body naming the wab-priest Pa-di-Khonsu-iy; repaired. 76 grams, 98 mm high



From a Worcester deceased estate. Property of a Cambridgeshire gentleman. Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.

As a wab-priest, Pa-di-Khonsu-iy would have assisted a higher-ranking hem-priest with the general maintenance and ritual activities in a temple, likely located either in Thebes in Upper Egypt or Tanis in the Delta.