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Lot Essay
PUBLISHED:
J.-F. and L. Aubert, Statuettes Égyptiennes: Chaouabtis, Ouchebtis, Paris, 1974, p. 215.
I. Grimm-Stadelmann (ed.), Aesthetic Glimpses, Masterpieces of Ancient Egyptian Art, The Resandro Collection, Munich, 2012, p. 213, no. R-685.
The shabtis for Horkhebi share characteristics from both the 25th and the 26th dynasty. In Statuettes Égyptiennes: Chaouabtis, Ouchebtis, 1974, Aubert mentions the present example (p. 215) and translates the first column of hieroglyphs: ‘Blessed with Osiris, Lord of Busiris, the royal scribe Horkhebi, born of Khaemkhons, born of Neferneith’. On the second frontal column, we find the traditional formula from Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead, still in its second version instead of the third, which continues on the three columns on the back. Because of their finely modelled face and their wide body, Cooney believed that they dated to the 25th Dynasty, with similar looking figures in serpentine. J. Yoyotte later suggested that they should rather be dated to the 26th dynasty because of the name of his mother. Neferneith (‘Neith is Good’) contains the name of the main deity of Sais, Neith, whose influence only grew after the reign of Psamtek I.
It is not known where these statuettes were found. They are all blue, green or weathered to a brown patina, as with this example. Other shabtis for Horkhebi are known in some of the most prestigious institutions: four in Paris, but also Berlin, London and the Corning Museum, New York.
J.-F. and L. Aubert, Statuettes Égyptiennes: Chaouabtis, Ouchebtis, Paris, 1974, p. 215.
I. Grimm-Stadelmann (ed.), Aesthetic Glimpses, Masterpieces of Ancient Egyptian Art, The Resandro Collection, Munich, 2012, p. 213, no. R-685.
The shabtis for Horkhebi share characteristics from both the 25th and the 26th dynasty. In Statuettes Égyptiennes: Chaouabtis, Ouchebtis, 1974, Aubert mentions the present example (p. 215) and translates the first column of hieroglyphs: ‘Blessed with Osiris, Lord of Busiris, the royal scribe Horkhebi, born of Khaemkhons, born of Neferneith’. On the second frontal column, we find the traditional formula from Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead, still in its second version instead of the third, which continues on the three columns on the back. Because of their finely modelled face and their wide body, Cooney believed that they dated to the 25th Dynasty, with similar looking figures in serpentine. J. Yoyotte later suggested that they should rather be dated to the 26th dynasty because of the name of his mother. Neferneith (‘Neith is Good’) contains the name of the main deity of Sais, Neith, whose influence only grew after the reign of Psamtek I.
It is not known where these statuettes were found. They are all blue, green or weathered to a brown patina, as with this example. Other shabtis for Horkhebi are known in some of the most prestigious institutions: four in Paris, but also Berlin, London and the Corning Museum, New York.