Ouchebti foreman in cobalt blue earthenware in the name of Djed-Khonsou-iouf-Ânkh, ca 1080 - 945 BC

Description:

This funerary figurine depicts an ouchebti foreman, recognisable by the presence of the hoe and whip, symbols of authority over the other ouchebtis. Made in cobalt-blue earthenware with a glossy glaze, it testifies to the quality of the workshops of the 21st Dynasty. The inscription in black hieroglyphs, in a vertical column at the front, identifies the owner: Djed-Khonsou-iouf-Ânkh, a great scribe and high-ranking official in the Theban administration.
This ouchebti comes from the second royal hiding place at Deir el-Bahari, a famous funerary repository to which many royal and notorious mummies from the Third Intermediate Period were transferred in order to protect them from desecration.
Functional in the funerary context, this foreman was supposed to supervise the ouchebtis workers in the afterlife, in response to the agricultural chores imposed on the deceased. His presence underlines the high rank of Djed-Khonsou-iouf-Ânkh in the administrative and funerary elite of his time.

Period:

Third Intermediate Period, 21st dynasty (circa 1080 - 945 BC).

Height 12 cm (excluding base).

Conservation:

Intact and very fine.

Provenance:

Belgian private collection, Mr E. C. inherited from his father in 1980.

An invoice and a certificate of authenticity will accompany this object.