Date: about 2500-2350 B.C. (Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5)
Medium: painted limestone
Provenance: Egypt
Dimensions: height 9 3/4”, width 4 3/8”, length 11”
Accession number: 35-17

Condition: fair. Modern fill: neck, his right shoulder, and parts of his left shoulder, upper arms, waist, and wrists.

Description. Kneeling and leaning forward with his feet tucked behind him, the servant kneads dough on a palette. His eyebrows, eyes, hair, and base are painted black; brown flesh tones are still extant; and the edge of the palette has traces of red. Breasted (27) recorded that the skirt and dough were white. A few partially preserved hieroglyphs are on the side of the base to the figure’s left.

Function. If offerings of food were not made to the deceased, figures like this would provide them with the necessary sustenance (Roehrig 90).

History of servant statuettes. Limestone statuettes of servants who are usually shown preparing food were first made late in the 4th Dynasty and became popular in the 5th. Usually they appeared singly; occasionally in pairs. In the late 5th or 6th Dynasty tomb of Nikauanupe, at least 26 were found. Servant statuettes stood in the serdab. In the 6th Dynasty (about 2350-2170 B.C.) wooden statuettes became popular, and in the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom (about 2130-1630 B.C.) they had replaced stone examples. The wooden statuettes, often in elaborate groups, were placed in the burial chamber (Roehrig 90-1; Breasted 2-3; see Model boat).

Published: James Breasted, Jr., Egyptian Servant Statues, Bollingen Series 13 (Washington, D.C.: Pantheon Books Inc., 1948), 27; Handbook 1959, 16; Handbook 1973, 23.

Other cited sources: Catharine Roehrig in Mummies and Magic 90-1 (cat. no. 21).

Other useful sources: Marsha Hill, “Notes on the Dating of Certain Stone Serving Statuettes,” in Age of Pyramids, 386-95.

(RC)

Previous | Homepage  | Royal Portraits  | Private Portraits  | Funerary Objects  | Frequently Cited Sources