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Psamtek-neb-pehti ShabtiCirca 525-332 BC
Description: Fine blue-green faience shabti bearing the standard shabti spell from Chapter Six of the Book of the Dead in seven horizontal registers of hieroglyphs with the bottom line just across the foot. The shabti is inscribed for Psamtek-neb-pehti, son of Pa-di-Neith born of Neith-Iteret. The face of the shabti is particularly appealing with finely detailed features including cosmetic lines around the eyes and plated beard. With fingers well delineated, the figure holds the customary agricultural implements, a hoe and pick, each modeled in relief. There is a seed sack slung over his shoulder to his back. The figure leans against a back pillar which merges into his wig with no dividing line. Small integral rectangular base. Height: 4.2 in. (10.5 cm) Condition: Intact. Provenance: Acquired in the 1930s by a New York author and collector, and by descent to a private New England gentleman. Old collector's tag affixed to base. Reference: See Les Antiquités (Paris 1970) by M. Saleh, no. 659 for another shabti inscribed for Psamtek-neb-pehti. Background: The inscription lists the name of the deceased and his parents and continues with an invocation as follows: "In order to do all the work which needs to be done in the realm of god. If one puts an obstacle therein, like a man at his affairs, 'Behold me', you say. If one counts you at any moment in order to work therein to make the fields arable, to irrigate the land, and move the sand from the east to the west, 'Here I am', you say".
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