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Published: Szabados, Tamás (2023), Study of an Ancient Egyptian Statuette from a Private Collection, [Bachelor’s Thesis, E?tv?s Loránd University, Budapest]. The complete thesis is available to readers here:
www.zacke.at/lot27_ant1126/?au=182
Egypt, c. 744-656 BC. Finely carved, the ushabti depicts Harwa, in an idealized form, the arms crossed right over left, each hand holding an incised hoe, a seed bag suspended by a single cord over the right shoulder. The face is sensitively modeled with small eyes, a broad nose, full lips, and prominent ears, framed by a smooth tripartite wig, and a false beard to the chin. Four horizontal registers of finely incised hieroglyphs extend across the front and partly around the sides.
Inscriptions: To the body, an excerpt from Spell 6 of the Book of the Dead, naming the owner as Harwa, “the King’s Acquaintance.” The text calls upon the statuette to answer “Here I am” when Harwa is summoned to perform work in the afterlife, breaking off before the enumeration of the tasks.
Provenance: The private collection of Martin Kerner, Kirchdorf, Switzerland, and thence by descent to his wife. A Hungarian private collection, acquired from the above. The underside with a felt base and collection number ‘A35’. Martin Kerner (d. 2008) was a Swiss researcher, author, and collector with wide-ranging interests in early material culture, ritual objects, ancient systems of measurement, and archeoastronomy. A noted specialist in Indonesian keris, he published 'Keris-Griffe aus dem malayischen Archipel' with the Museum Rietberg, Zurich, in 1996, alongside studies on prehistoric measuring systems and astronomy.
Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, fragmentary as preserved, small chips to the beard, pitting, and abrasions, with wear to the incised details. The facial features and substantial portions of the inscription remain remarkably well preserved.
Weight: 416 g (excl. stand), 661.4 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 11.3 cm (excl. stand), 13 cm (incl. stand)
With an associated stand. (2)
Expert’s note: The inscription offers particularly compelling evidence for identifying the owner as Harwa. In addition to his name and the title “King’s Acquaintance,” it preserves an unusual grammatical feature in the spell’s “obstacle formula,” the passage concerning impediments to performing work in the afterlife. As Szabados notes, the verb meaning “to impose” or “to set up” carries a third-person plural suffix reportedly found only on the ushabtis of Harwa and Amenirdis I. This textual correspondence strengthens the attribution suggested by the figure’s stylistic affinities. Its original setting remains uncertain, however. Szabados allows that it may have been deposited as a votive offering at the cult place of the Divine Adoratrice or another deity, rather than included in Harwa’s burial equipment.
Harwa was the first of seven High Stewards of the Divine Adoratrice, holding one of the most important offices in the theocratic state of Amun at Thebes. Serving Amenirdis I, the God’s Wife of Amun, he exercised extensive administrative and priestly responsibilities and subsequently participated in her funerary cult. His tenure is traditionally described as lasting approximately forty years under the Nubian pharaohs Shabaqa (713-698 BC) and Shebitqo (698-690 BC), and into the reign of Taharqa (690-664 BC). Harwa is particularly renowned for his vast funerary complex at Asasif, Thebes (TT 37), near Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. Combining references to earlier Egyptian traditions with innovative architectural and decorative features, this monument provided a model for later elite funerary complexes.
The present fragment reflects the deliberate revival of earlier Egyptian traditions during the Kushite period. Its stone construction, portrait-like facial modeling, and absence of a back pillar recall Middle Kingdom models, while the inscription follows a version of the shabti spell whose structure likewise draws upon an early formulation. Even the designation shabti, retained in the text, reflects this archaizing tendency. These references to the past are combined with features characteristic of the figure’s own period, including a flattened Saite-style wig and a seed bag suspended by a single cord over the right shoulder, a form associated with Nubian ushabtis. The figure thus illustrates how earlier sculptural and textual traditions were selectively incorporated into contemporary funerary practice.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related brown serpentine shabti of Harwa, 12.65 cm high, in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, accession number LDUCE-UC30151. Compare a closely related fragment of an ushabti of Harwa, Late Period, 664-655 BC, 10.4 cm high, in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, inventory number F 1949/2.3.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s London, 30 April 2008, lot 202
Price: GBP 24,500 or approx. EUR 47,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian upper part of a serpentine shabti for the royal acquaintance Harwa, Late Dynasty, XXV-early Dynasty XXVI
Expert remark: Compare the identical subject and similar modeling, preservation, inscriptions, and size (11.5 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 15 December 2016, lot 19
Mid-Estimate: USD 75,000 or approx. EUR 92,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Fragmentary Egyptian Serpentine Ushabti of the Chief Lector Priest Petamenophis, 25th Dynasty, reign of Taharqa/Tanwetamani, 690-656 B.C.
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and similar subject, preservation, and inscriptions. Note the size (18.7 cm).
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