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Lot Essay
Udjarenes was the daughter of Piankhy-Har and granddaughter of Piye, the second king of the Nubian dynasty. She was a Priestess of Hathor and Singer of Amun (J.-F. and L. Aubert, Statuettes égyptiennes, Paris, 1974, p. 200-1). Ten other of her shabtis are known, including two in the British Museum (EA68986 and EA24715), two in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and one in the Berlin Museum (10663), according to M. L. Bierbrier, 'Udjarenes rediscovered', The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 79, 1993, p. 274-5.
Udjarenes married the powerful Montuemhat, Fourth Prophet of Amun, Count of Thebes, who was looking to strengthen his family's domination over Thebes. He became Governor of Upper Egypt under the king Taharqo, the uncle of Udjarenes. After the Assyrian invasion of Egypt and the sack of Thebes in 663 B.C., the city was virtually autonomous. An astute politician, Montuemhat knew when to open the doors of Thebes to the Northern 26th Dynasty, and, in the ninth year of his reign, welcomed Nitocris, the daughter of Psammetichus I, to become the divine wife of Amun, a position with significant religious and political importance (L. M. Berman, Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art, New York, 1999, p. 393). His tomb in the Asasif (TT34) is one of the largest ever constructed in Egypt for a private person. Though one of three wives, Udjarenes is the only one mentioned in his tomb, where she was probably buried, testament to her importance (B. Porter and R. L. B. Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings, Vol. I: Theban Necropolis, Part 1: Private Tombs, Oxford, 1973, p. 56).
Udjarenes married the powerful Montuemhat, Fourth Prophet of Amun, Count of Thebes, who was looking to strengthen his family's domination over Thebes. He became Governor of Upper Egypt under the king Taharqo, the uncle of Udjarenes. After the Assyrian invasion of Egypt and the sack of Thebes in 663 B.C., the city was virtually autonomous. An astute politician, Montuemhat knew when to open the doors of Thebes to the Northern 26th Dynasty, and, in the ninth year of his reign, welcomed Nitocris, the daughter of Psammetichus I, to become the divine wife of Amun, a position with significant religious and political importance (L. M. Berman, Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art, New York, 1999, p. 393). His tomb in the Asasif (TT34) is one of the largest ever constructed in Egypt for a private person. Though one of three wives, Udjarenes is the only one mentioned in his tomb, where she was probably buried, testament to her importance (B. Porter and R. L. B. Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings, Vol. I: Theban Necropolis, Part 1: Private Tombs, Oxford, 1973, p. 56).