ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Shabti of Queen Henuttawy

Place FoundThebes, Egypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodThird Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21

Date1076-944 BCE

MediumFaience

Credit LineGift of Clara M. and John S. O'Shea

Dimensions4 3/4 x 2 x 1/2 in. (12.1 x 5.1 x 1.3 cm)

Object number2010.038.001

Label TextQueen Henuttawy was of pivotal importance in Egyptian history and helped engineer a smooth transition from the New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period. She was the daughter of Ramesses XI, the last pharaoh of the Ramesside Period, and became Great Royal Wife of Pinedjem I, the High Priest of Amun who assumed royal titles and ruled Upper Egypt from Thebes, while another dynasty ruled in the Delta at Tanis. It was her son who became Pharaoh as Psusennes I at Tanis and re-unified Egypt.|

She is depicted on the beautiful blue shabti wearing a black tripartite wig with a uraeus, and her arms are crossed, right over left, on her chest. In each hand she holds a hoe at the shoulder with a large seed bag at the back should she be required to work in the fields of the afterlife. A column of black painted hieroglyphic inscription with a cartouche runs down the lower body, reading: The illuminated one, the Osiris, the King's Wife Henut-tawy. She was buried in the famous first cache of royal mummies discovered at Deir el-Bahri in 1881.

Exhibition HistoryMCCM Rotunda, December 20, 2010 - March 29, 2012
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, June 17, 2013 - Present
Published ReferencesRupert Wace Ancient Art (2010), number 5.

ProvenanceSaid to have come from the first cache at Deir el-Bahari, Egypt, 1881. Ex coll. William Bowmore (1909-2008), Victoria, Australia, acquired 1950s-1960s. Purchased by MCCM from Rupert Wace Ancient Art, Ltd., London, England.

Status

On view

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