ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Shabti of Queen Henuttawy

Possible OriginThebes, Egypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodThird Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21

Date1076-944 BCE

MediumFaience

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions4 5/8 x 9/16 x 1 in., 90 g (11.8 x 1.5 x 2.6 cm, 3 3/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.294

Label TextThis striking blue shabti belongs to Queen Henuttawy, whose name means “Mistress of the Two Lands.” She was pivotal in the transition from the New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate period. Henuttawy was the daughter of Ramesses XI, the last pharaoh of the Ramesside period, and the wife of Pinedjem I, the high priest of Amun, who assumed royal titles and ruled Upper Egypt from Thebes. Her son, Psusennes I (cat. no. 83), ruled from Tanis. Henuttawy’s marriage and offspring ensured that the same family ruled Upper and Lower Egypt for a time.

Henuttawy wears a black tripartite wig with a simplified uraeus. Her arms are crossed on her chest, and she holds two hoes. A large seed bag hangs down the middle of her back. A column of black hieroglyphs on her front read: “The Illuminated One, the Osiris, King’s wife, Henuttawy,” with her name in a cartouche. Her mummified body and those of her husband, Pinedjem I, her father, Ramesses IX, and their shabtis were found in the famous royal mummy cache in Deir el-Bahari in 1881.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed., Life and The Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 82.

ProvenancePurchased by Georges Ricard (1921-2022) from Jean-François Mignon, Aix-en Provence, France, June 29, 1974. Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1975-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

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