LOT 0034

Egyptian Pale Blue Shabti for an Imy-Khent Priest

LATE PERIOD, 30TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 380-343 B.C.

5 1/4 in. (99 grams, 13.5 cm high).

A pale blue glazed mummiform shabti for an Imy-Khent priest, modelled standing on a rectangular base, arms crossed over the chest and holding a pick and a hoe, seed bag over the left shoulder, wearing a tripartite wig and false beard; two vertical columns of hieroglyphs to the front of the body, plain dorsal pillar; some of the hieroglyphs spelling the owner's name are poorly rendered, but appears to be Ba-ankh-sa-sobeky.

From a Worcester deceased estate.
Property of a Cambridgeshire gentleman.

Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.

Cf. The British Museum, museum number EA49422 'Green glazed composition shabti of Tjahorpata', for a similar shabti figure of this period; cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 30.8.187, for a priest shabti of this date.

Although the name of the shabti’s owner and, in particular, that of his parent, are rather unclear, the titles are clearly written and inform us that Ba-ankh-sa-sobeky served as an ‘Imy-khent priest’ associated with the Delta city of Mendes, where the principal deity was the sacred ram god Ba-neb-djedet (meaning ‘Ram, lord of Djedet’). The hieroglyph of the standing ram (Ba) forms the first part of the priest’s name. From the Late Period onwards the priestly title of the nearby city of Hermopolis Parva, ‘One who Separates the Two Gods’, also appears in Mendesian title strings, perhaps indicating that Hermopolis Parva and its religious cults had come under the control of Mendes; indeed, Mendes is thought to have been the capital of Egypt during the 29th Dynasty. The crocodile god Sobek was also worshipped at Mendes in later periods and Ba-ankh-sa-sobeky’s name appears to reflect both this reptilian deity and the traditional ram god of the city.