LARGE POLYCHROME WOOD USHABTI

LARGE POLYCHROME WOOD USHABTI

Mummiform, wearing tripartite black wig, hands crossed over chest holding hoes, seed bag at the back, six rows of hieroglyphic text from chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead, the so-called shabti spell; the name of the of the owner was to be added in the empty space in the first line
“The enlightened Osiris so-and-so, he says”, or “… she says”..

Ex priv. coll. P.A., New York (1908-2004), a UN diplomat who acquired the piece in Cairo in 1970; thence by descent; with Royal Athena Galleries, New York, vol. XVIII 2007, no. 219; priv. Virginia coll., acq. from the above in 2008; thereafter with Sands of Time Ancient Art, Washington DC
H. 24,8 cm. Crack in the back, otherwise intact

New Kingdom, 19th-20th Dyn., c. 1292-1070 BC