HIXENBAVGH
ANCIENT ART
A large ancient Egyptian wooden ushabti. The mummiform figure holds a hoe and seed bag in his hands.
New Kingdom, XIXth Dynasty, 1293-1185 BC.
Height: 8 3/4 in. (22 cm).
Intact.
The ushabti (often translated as answerer) was placed in the tomb of the deceased among the myriad of other funerary equipment. The purpose of these figures, usually numbering 365 per tomb, was to magically answer when, in the afterlife, the deceased was called upon to perform his or her agricultural duties for Pharaoh (in the form of Osiris). The figures were made in the workshops of temple priests who carefully prepared the funerary equipment and the body to ensure the deceased proper passage to and life in the afterworld. By the late period, when this example was produced, the quality of these grave goods had diminished considerably, nonetheless, the upper classes continued to include ushabtis in their burials.
Formerly in the collection of P. A., New York, acquired in Cairo in 1970.
GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC
Large Egyptian Wood Ushabti
Inv #: 2310
$2,500
