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Details
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.
Provenance
Acquired 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.
Literature
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.
Footnotes
Many 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.
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