AN EGYPTIAN BLACK SERPENTINE SHABTI FOR THE CHIEF OF SOLDIERS, PA-SER
AN EGYPTIAN BLACK SERPENTINE SHABTI FOR THE CHIEF OF SOLDIERS, PA-SER

NEW KINGDOM, 18TH-19TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1450-1295 B.C.

Details
AN EGYPTIAN BLACK SERPENTINE SHABTI FOR THE CHIEF OF SOLDIERS, PA-SER
NEW KINGDOM, 18TH-19TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1450-1295 B.C.
7 ¾ in. (19.7 cm.) high
Provenance
Reputedly Jean-Joseph Tarayre (1770-1855), a general in Napoléon Bonaparte's army, France.
with Galerie G. Maspero, Paris.
Ingrid Josephson (1927-2007), New York, acquired from the above, 1981.
International Fine Arts Auction, I.M. Chait Gallery/ Auctioneers, Beverly Hills, 20 May 2018, lot 148.

Lot Essay

Stylistically this impressive serpentine shabti for Pa-Ser finds its closest parallels to examples from the late 18th Dynasty, in particular to the reign of Amenhotep III.  Noteworthy is the simplification of the body, with no articulation of the hands, and no flourishes for attributes such as a broad collar, as seen on a number of high status figures, typically in exotic wood, such as that for Maya (see no. 71 in Kozloff, et al., Egypt’s Dazzling Sun, Amenhotep III and His World).  The shape of the face and especially the treatment of the lips were appropriated from images of Amenhotep III, also noted on other private funerary figures, such as that for Tjenura (no. 7 in Freed, et al., Pharaohs of the Sun).

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