Date: 700-650 B.C. (Third Intermediate Period to Late Period, Dynasty 25 to Dynasty 26)
Medium: wood
Provenance: Egypt
Dimensions: height 6 1/2”
Accession number: 47-25

Condition: good. Missing: her left arm and front of feet. Slight damage to the wig (on her left side), her left eye, and area above.

Description. The young woman strides forward with her left foot first and right arm at her side. She wears a tripartite wig and close-fitting, semi-transparent dress stretching from just below her breasts almost to her ankles. A tie below her right breast holds up the dress. Originally her pierced ears held earrings.

Chronology. Bothmer (ESLP 12-3) writes that the statuette’s naso-labial furrows, exposed breasts, and tie under the breast also appear on some late 25th Dynasty sculptures. Further, like other 25th Dynasty sculptures, the statuette is archaizing and recalls Middle Kingdom works (about 1980-1630 B.C.), specifically, female servant statues with bared breasts. Since the statuette’s slim figure is typical for the 26th Dynasty, Bothmer dates the sculpture to the end of one dynasty and the beginning of the next. More recently, Russmann (1992) has suggested that it may date up to five decades earlier.

Identity. Earrings seem to be reserved for Nubian royalty at this period, and so possibly the figurine portrays a Nubian princess (Russmann 1997, 31). As for the possible objection that exposed breasts might be inappropriate for a dignified woman, it is worth noting that on a stela from the 25th Dynasty or earlier, a woman with exposed breasts stands in adoration before a god, Re-Horakhty (Brooklyn Museum of Art 08.460.201). Clearly in this instance exposed breasts were not inappropriate (Russmann 1999).

Function. The statuette’s function remains unknown. At first glance, it would seem to be meant to act as a servant in the afterlife (see Servant kneading dough and Shabti), but there are no similar works from this period (other than ushebtis; see Shabti). It may have been a descendent of the ka-statues (Russmann 1999; see Ra-wer and Wooden statue of Metjetji). While they were out of fashion at this time, there is a 26th Dynasty wooden example in Berlin (a group composed of a wife, husband, and child) and a few stone examples elsewhere.

Published: Bothmer, ESLP 12-3 (cat. no. 11); Apollo 1972, 478 fig. 6; Handbook 1973, 30; Handbook 1993, 113. Note also Dr. Edna Russmann, personal communications, November 7-8, 1992 and August 12, 1999.

Other cited sources: Edna Russmann, “Mentuemhat’s Kushite Wife,” Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 34 (1997), 21-39.       

(RC)

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