Description: A pale blue faience ushabti, mould-made mummiform figure wearing tripartite wig with beard. The hands crossed on chest holding agricultural tools, a small seed bag over the left shoulder, and with back pillar and pedestal base. A T-shaped impressed heiroglyphic inscription reads sHD wsir tA-imn (?), ms n wrt- [sH] which can be read as Illuminating the Osiris Ta-Amen, born of Weret-seh. Complete, but patchy wear to the glaze.
Size: 100 mm/3.9 ins. high
Culture: Egyptian
Date: Ptolemaic Period, c. 332-32 B.C.
Provenance: From the collection of Julian Bird (1959-2014), and acquired from the Parthenon Gallery, Bury Place, London, in 2012, and previously from a deceased North London estate, the collection formed in the 1960s.
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.
