Description:
Tjainehebu was Overseer of the King’s Ships, and Overseer of the Scribes of the Council.
He is depicted mummiform, wearing the tripartite wig and a false beard, and holding the usual agricultural implements in his hands. Eleven lines of hieroglyphs on his legs contain the so-called shabti spell (spell 6 from the Book of the Dead), as well as his titles, his name and the name of his mother, Taneferetity.
The tomb of Tjainehebu was discovered in 1900 by Barsanti and Maspero, south of the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara. It was intact and contained a wealth of funerary objects, among them a gold funerary mask, many amulets and jewellery, plus 401 shabtis.
A superb example with a most wonderful face!
Literature:
- A. Barsanti – G. Maspero, "Fouilles autour de la Pyramide d’Ounas, 1899-1900. V: Tombeau de Zannehibou: I - A. Barsanti, Rapport sur la découverte. II - G. Maspero, Les inscriptions du tombeau de Zannehibou", Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte 1 (Le Caire, 1900), p. 262-282;
- Jacques-F. Aubert - Liliane Aubert, Statuettes égyptiennes. Chaouabtis, ouchebtis (Paris, 1974), p. 227, fig. 139;
- Edda Bresciani - Sergio Pernigotti - Maria Paola Giangeri Silvis, La tomba di Ciennehebu, capo della flotta del re. Biblioteca degli studi classici e orientali, 7; Serie egittologica, 1: Tombe d'età saitica a Saqqara (Pisa, Giardini, 1977), p. 52-55, pls. XX-XXII, XLI-XLII;
- Glenn Janes, Shabtis: A Private View (Paris, 2002), p. 210-214, nos. 106a-b.
Dating:
26th dynasty, probably reign of Amasis, 570-526 B.C.
Size:
Height 18.3 cm.
Provenance:
Collection of Sheldon and Barbara Breitbart
SOLD
Stock number:
E0820