Ancient Egyptian Ushabti of Padihor Ex. Gustave Jéquier (1868-1946)

Here you find a dark green glazed ushabti of Padihor with a lappet-wig, a nicely modelled face with a beard and parallel hands in relief. The front is inscribed with incised hieroglyphs and the back, a blank pillar. Was broken above the foot and reattached. Tiny piece of faience missing on the top of the head. Measure 5 3/4 inches in height. Circa 30th Dynasty.

Provenance: Collected by Gustave Jéquier (1868-1946)

Ex. Billy Jamieson Collection, 2009 (1954-2011)

Authentication: Gayle Gibson, Royal Ontario Museum Toronto 

The translation, Top to bottom, reading right to left:

1. to brighten the path (of) (with an extra 't' at the end under the snake, as though the scribe was not quite sure what he was writing)
2. the deceased (called, "The Osiris")
3. maybe a continuation of the title, though a bit odd. Literally it's part of Osiris ( the final sign is the 'god' determinative.)
4. Pa Di (the gift of)
5. "Hr"- Horus
6. (of) Mehen
7. Born
8. of

9 & 10. Sat-r-bw. (Usually written as Sat-er-bu)

His mother's name ends on the foot of the shabti as the artist did not judge the space properly. This is certainly the same man whose two calcite canopic jars are in the Cairo Museum, possibly found at Meir before 1917. (Annales des Service, XVII, 1917) p.31-2.

The whole thing is typical of shabtis of this period: To brighten the path of the Osiris, Pa-di-Hor-Mehen, born of Saterbu.

References: Birrell, M., "Ushabtis in the Macquarie University Ancient History Teaching Collection", Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology, vol 2 (Sydney, 1991) Janes, G., "Shabtis: A Private View" (Cybele, 2002)

Kaczmarczyk, A., "Ancient Egyptian Faience: an analytical survey of Egyptian faience from Predynastic to Roman times" Kanawati, N., "The tomb and its significance in Ancient Egypt" (Giza, 1987)

Nicholson, P., "Egyptian Faience and Glass" (Buckinghamshire, 1993)

Petrie, W.M.F., "Shabtis" (London, 1935) Schneider, H. D., "Shabtis" vols. 1-3 (Leiden, 1977)

Ranke, H., "Die Agyptischen Personannamen" vols. 1-2 (Holstein, 1935)

Shaw, I & Nicholson, P., "The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt" (Cairo, 2002)

Stewart, H., "Egyptian shabtis" (Buckinghamshire, 1995)

Galleria Delvecchio .… “is pleased to present a collection of Egyptian antiquities assembled by the celebrated Swiss Egyptologist Gustave Jéquier. Jéquier was born in 1868 in Neuchatel. He first studied in Paris under Gaston Maspero (1846-1916) and later went to Berlin before joining the de Morgan expedition to Persia, during which time he contributed to the discovery and decipherment of the code of Hammurabi. Gustave Jéquier was a giant in the field of Egyptology whose contributions are far too numerous to list here. He is best known for his association with the French Institute in Cairo which enabled him to engage in seminal research at the pyramid site of the Old Kingdom. He also completed the work begun at Abydos by his Swiss compatriot, [Henri] Eduard Naville (1844-1926). The two are considered to be Switzerland’s most preeminent Egyptologists. One of Jéquier’s most important discoveries was the 13th Dynasty pyramid of Khendjer. He wrote extensively on his history of Egyptian architecture, and published on philology and religion as well. Gustave Jéquier died in 1946 in the city in which he was born, and most of his collection was acquired by the University of Basel. The works of art presented here were given to a sibling who emigrated to the US in the late 1940’s; the collection later passed to their daughter, Jéquier’s niece.”