Egyptian Wood w/ Painted Gesso Boatman
Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom, 11th to 13th Dynasty, ca. 2134 to 1640 BCE. A hand-carved wooden figure depicting a sacred boatman with mortises bored into the shoulders to hold the articulated arms. The figure kneels while wearing a knee-length shendyt skirt and has deep red pigment painted atop a layer of white gesso. The stylized countenance is defined by almond-shaped eyes with elongated corners, a slender nose above thin lips, and thick eyebrows, all beneath a classic cap-style coiffure. Archaeologists typically find two model boats in almost all tombs that have models from the Middle Kingdom period, and those ships are usually staffed by boatmen like this one - created to be a servants in the afterlife, ready to row the deceased upon the eternal Nile, as actual boatmen would have done in real life. Lucite display stand for photography purposes only. Size: 1.375" W x 5.625" H (3.5 cm x 14.3 cm)
During the Sixth Dynasty, it became common to place wooden models of lifelike scenes in Egyptian tombs; by the Middle Kingdom, they were placed in the tomb chamber, around the coffin, although some very lavish tombs had a separate chamber just for wooden models. Funerary boat models were created to assist in the deceased's journey through the underworld, and the most well-known models came from Meketre's tomb, more than half of which were funerary boats.
Provenance: private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, acquired in the early 2000s; ex-Tom Cederlind collection, Portland, Oregon, USA
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
#151264
Condition Report: Original articulated arms missing. Nicks and fissures to base, legs, body, and head, with chipping and fading to painted gesso, and light encrustations. Nice earthen deposits and traces of original pigmentation throughout.
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Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom, 11th to 13th Dynasty, ca. 2134 to 1640 BCE. A hand-carved wooden figure depicting a sacred boatman with mortises bored into the shoulders to hold the articulated arms. The figure kneels while wearing a knee-length shendyt skirt and has deep red pigment painted atop a layer of white gesso. The stylized countenance is defined by almond-shaped eyes with elongated corners, a slender nose above thin lips, and thick eyebrows, all beneath a classic cap-style coiffure. Archaeologists typically find two model boats in almost all tombs that have models from the Middle Kingdom period, and those ships are usually staffed by boatmen like this one - created to be a servants in the afterlife, ready to row the deceased upon the eternal Nile, as actual boatmen would have done in real life. Lucite display stand for photography purposes only. Size: 1.375" W x 5.625" H (3.5 cm x 14.3 cm)
During the Sixth Dynasty, it became common to place wooden models of lifelike scenes in Egyptian tombs; by the Middle Kingdom, they were placed in the tomb chamber, around the coffin, although some very lavish tombs had a separate chamber just for wooden models. Funerary boat models were created to assist in the deceased's journey through the underworld, and the most well-known models came from Meketre's tomb, more than half of which were funerary boats.
Provenance: private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, acquired in the early 2000s; ex-Tom Cederlind collection, Portland, Oregon, USA
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
#151264
Condition Report: Original articulated arms missing. Nicks and fissures to base, legs, body, and head, with chipping and fading to painted gesso, and light encrustations. Nice earthen deposits and traces of original pigmentation throughout.
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Estimate
Time, Location
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