Code: 2839
Description: An olive green faience ushabti, mummiform figure with tripartite wig and beard, and rather crudely modelled facial features, with hands crossed on chest holding a pair of hoes, a seed bag over the left shoulder. The ushabti has a pedestal base but unusually no back pillar. The reverse has a relatively crudely incised inscription which may read wnsb Dd(w?) iAb(?) possibly reading Weneseb [of?] Busiris (?) [of the] East(?). A fracture below the waist repaired and overall surface wear. Possibly from the Nile delta.
Size: 84 mm/3.3 ins. high.
Culture: Egyptian
Date: Late Period to Ptolemaic Period, c. 600-30 B.C.
Provenance: Ex Dorset private collection and collected in the 19th Century, from the collection of Julian Bird (1959-2014), acquired from Helios Gallery, Kingsdown, Wiltshire, in 2008.
Background: Julian Bird was a passionate collector of Egyptian antiquities, who built up a fine and extensive collection from the 1970s onwards. He sourced his items mainly from the UK market, from specialist dealers, fairs, markets and auctioneers. He was a model collector, carefully documenting his collection, and his notes on this particular item will be supplied to the buyer.
