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Lot Essay
This substantial limestone shabti represents a transition in funerary figurines from the schematic wooden figurines of Dynasty 17 to the more carefully carved figurines made in stone during the earliest reigns of Dynasty 18. The mummiform shape and nemes headdress reflect the association of the owner, Seni-em-Iah, with the funerary deity Osiris, and the shabti formula inscribed on the body is an early example of this text drawn from Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead (for a full translation refer to the department). The name of the shabti’s owner is provided in the horizontal bands of text on the lower portion, while a vertical column of text provides the name of the donor, “It is his brother who makes his name to live, Pa-kem.” Neither name is clearly associated with a known burial at Thebes of this date; a later tomb of a Sen-em-iah (TT 127) appears to be from the reign of Hatshepsut. A seated limestone statuette in Dublin (acc. no. 30/002) bearing an inscription naming a priest of Khonsu named Sen-em-iah is more likely to belong to the same man as the present shabti figure, dating as it must stylistically to the transition between Dynasty 17 and 18.
The proportions and angular style of this shabti reflect the decoration of elite rishi-type coffins of late Dynasty 17, including the coffin of King Kamose in Cairo (G. Daressy, “Le cercueil du roi Kames,” ASAE 9, pp. 61-3, pl. 9) and the coffin of an elite woman found by Petrie at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna in Edinburgh (acc. no. 1909.527.1). In particular, the nearly horizontal treatment of the wings of the nemes-headdress and the austere, stylized nature of the face are reflected in these and other 17th Dynasty wooden coffins. The strictly frontal approach to carving and the provincial style have similarities to a slightly earlier sculptural workshop identified by Marée (“A Sculpture Workshop at Abydos from the Late Sixteenth or Early Seventeenth Dynasty,” in M. Marée, ed., The Second Intermediate Period (Thirteenth-Seventeenth Dynasties): Current Research, Future Prospects, pp. 241-281). Limestone shabtis are virtually unknown during Dynasty 17, however, and simple angular carved “stick shabtis” were instead the norm, probably due to a lack of resources (P. Whelan, Mere Scraps of Rough Wood? 17th-18th Dynasty Stick Shabtis in the Petrie Museum and Other Collections). The use of the downturned moon-sign in the writing of Seni-em-Iah’s name should indicate however that the shabti inscription dates to the end of the reign of Ahmose, following the reunification of Egypt (i.e. after year 18-22 of the reign), as documented extensively by C. Vandersleyen (Les guerres d'Amosis, fondateur du Nouvel Empire). Possibly the statuette was fashioned late in Dynasty 17 (reign of Kamose), and the carved inscription was added only after the death of the owner, at the outset of Dynasty 18.
The proportions and angular style of this shabti reflect the decoration of elite rishi-type coffins of late Dynasty 17, including the coffin of King Kamose in Cairo (G. Daressy, “Le cercueil du roi Kames,” ASAE 9, pp. 61-3, pl. 9) and the coffin of an elite woman found by Petrie at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna in Edinburgh (acc. no. 1909.527.1). In particular, the nearly horizontal treatment of the wings of the nemes-headdress and the austere, stylized nature of the face are reflected in these and other 17th Dynasty wooden coffins. The strictly frontal approach to carving and the provincial style have similarities to a slightly earlier sculptural workshop identified by Marée (“A Sculpture Workshop at Abydos from the Late Sixteenth or Early Seventeenth Dynasty,” in M. Marée, ed., The Second Intermediate Period (Thirteenth-Seventeenth Dynasties): Current Research, Future Prospects, pp. 241-281). Limestone shabtis are virtually unknown during Dynasty 17, however, and simple angular carved “stick shabtis” were instead the norm, probably due to a lack of resources (P. Whelan, Mere Scraps of Rough Wood? 17th-18th Dynasty Stick Shabtis in the Petrie Museum and Other Collections). The use of the downturned moon-sign in the writing of Seni-em-Iah’s name should indicate however that the shabti inscription dates to the end of the reign of Ahmose, following the reunification of Egypt (i.e. after year 18-22 of the reign), as documented extensively by C. Vandersleyen (Les guerres d'Amosis, fondateur du Nouvel Empire). Possibly the statuette was fashioned late in Dynasty 17 (reign of Kamose), and the carved inscription was added only after the death of the owner, at the outset of Dynasty 18.