LARGE OUSHEBTI OF PSAMTEK (OR PSAMETIK) SON OF... Lot 9

LARGE OUSHEBTI OF PSAMTEK (OR PSAMETIK) SON OF SEBAREKHYT in siliceous clay and blue glaze. A tripartite striated headdress surrounds the carefully sculpted face with an Osirian beard. His clasped hands clasp a hoe, a hoe and a cord to support a back grain bag. The rest of the slender body has nine lines of beautiful incised hieroglyphs (Transcript above). The plain dorsal pillar joins a rather large trapezoidal pedestal, typically Saite, which supports the upright mummy. It is inscribed with nine lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions declaiming chapter VI, the third version of the Book of the Dead. Egypt, Saqqara, XXVIth dynasty. 6th century B.C. Height : 18,2 cm (Very good preservation) Transcription : " O oushebtis, if before the Osiris, the Divine Father, Psamtek, born of Sebarekhyt (first name which could be translated by "the star of the people"), is required to do all the work to be done in the realm of the dead : "Here I am !", you will say at any time to work there, to cultivate the fields, to irrigate the banks, to transport the sand from the West to the East and vice versa; "Here I am !", you will say. Discovered in the middle of the nineteenth century, the tomb of Psamtek, son of Sebarekhyt, a great character from whom our ouchebti comes, has not yet been relocated exactly to the vicinity of Saqqara. The perfectly preserved funerary furniture was acquired by various collectors of the time and is today dispersed among the great museums and private collections. The exceptional quality of the ensemble is explained not only by Psamte's position as an intimate of King Amasis, but above all by his functions in the necropolis, which are listed on his sarcophagus: "Inspector of the sem-priests, administrator of the Western Mountain (necropolis of Memphis). PROVENANCE - Collected around 1842 at Saqqara, probably by Louis de Saint-Ferriol (1814-1877) - French private collection. Recognizable among all, these oushebtis of Psamtek son of Sebarekhyt, of an exceptional sky-blue color, are found in the principal museums and great collections of the world (Louvre: N 2734 I; World Museum of Liverpool: 56.21.99; Victoria & Albert Museum of London: 986-1853 etc.). The remarkable sarcophagus of Psamtek is currently kept in the Grenoble Museum [Gift of Gabriel de Saint-Ferriol, son of Count Louis de Saint-Ferriol, in 1916 Inv.: MG 1996]. BIBLIOGRAPHY - Jacques François Aubert and Liliane Aubert, Egyptian funerary statuettes from the Department of Coins, Medals and Antiques. Identical model described in catalog no. 57, donated by the Luynes collection in 1862. - John H. Taylor, Death and the afterlife in ancient Egypt, British Museum Press, London, 2001. Identical model reproduced on p. 130.