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LOT 0025
Egyptian Terracotta Overseer Shabti
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C. OR EARLIER
8 7/8 in. (11 in.) (303 grams, 22.5 cm (465 grams total, 28 cm including stand)).
A rare example of a terracotta shabti depicting an overseer wearing a civil kilt, incised whip over his right shoulder; stylised facial features with pinched profile and incised eyes, nostrils and mouth; incised stripe to the left shoulder; accompanied by a custom-made stand.
ProvenanceAcquired 1979-1999.
London collection of the late Mr S.M., thence by descent.
Accompanied by a copy of a previous cataloguing slip.
Accompanied by an original thermoluminescence analysis report no.N122j43, from Oxford Authentication.
Cf. Petrie, W.M.F., Gizeh and Rifeh, London, 1907, pl. XXVIIC, for numerous examples of crude terracotta worker and overseer shabtis of the late New Kingdom from Deir Rifeh; Janes, G., The Shabti Collections 6. A Selection from the World Museum Liverpool, Lymm, 2016, pp.516-517, nos. 271 a-c, for examples of crude mud worker shabtis of the early Ptolemaic period found at Abydos holding a stylised implement.
FootnotesMany crude clay shabtis are known from provincial sites such as Deir Rifeh and Abydos, with dates ranging from the Late New Kingdom - Ptolemaic Period. This overseer figure would favour a dating closer to the earlier date, when overseer shabtis were a common feature.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Egyptian Glass Eye Pair
Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.Estimate: £1,000 - 1,400 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £500
A pair of glass eye inlays from a mummy case, brown glass irises, painted black pupils and lateral tear ducts; mounted on a custom-made glass stand. 1.3 kg total, 35.5 cm high including stand
French collection, 1960s-early 2000s. From an important Paris gallery, France. with Jean Marc Delvaux SVV, 15 December 2017, lot 274. -
Egyptian and Other Artefact Collection
1st millennium B.C. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £195
A mixed group comprising: a miniature glazed composition shabti; two gold domed discs, one with a granule cluster to the apex; a gold lozenge cell with granulation to the rim; a square gold cell with flanking loops and granulation; a gold triangular panel with granulated dividers, triangles to the upper edge; a gold domed disc with quartered design and rosettes, granulated; a gold leaf-shaped pendant and chain links; three gold cells with carnelian inlays. 5.35 grams total, 6-46 mm
Acquired 1990s. English private collection. Property of an Essex gentleman. -
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Egyptian Black Hardstone Sphinx
Late Period-Ptolemaic Period, circa 500-31 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
An Egyptian or Graeco-Roman hardstone female sphinx modelled in the round, sitting on a sub-rectangular base, her hair tied in a bun on the top of her head, circular socket to the top face behind the head; mounted on a custom-made antique wooden display base. 74 grams total, 50 mm long including base
Fine condition.
From Saqqara in the late 1960s. With John Cummings, Lincolnshire, UK, 1990s. Acquired 20 May 1997. Property of a South Oxfordshire private collector. Accompanied by an original invoice no.6469 dated 20 May 1997. Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
This type of sphinx amulet is quite rare in Egypt, for instance, the vast output and variety of amulets identified from the Late Period industrial-scale workshops at Naukratis does not include three-dimensional winged sphinxes, only their image impressed in scarabs, suggesting that this example may have been an import and/or once the possession of a Greek person in Egypt.
