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41: An Egyptian Green-Glazed Shabti

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41: An Egyptian Green-Glazed Shabti
This is a green glazed shabti for a priest called Pa-en-imen, a man who lived in the Egyptian Delta in the 30th dynasty, about 2,400 years ago. He is shown holding a hoe and a pick and having a seed bag slung over his left shoulder. Two columns of text identify him as "The Osiris, the one who separates the two gods, the priest of Hathor, the priest of Isis, who resides in Mendes, Pa-en-imen". The words "who separates the two gods" (in Egyptian wep netjerwy) are in fact a priestly title related to Mendes, and refer to the juridical dispute between the gods Horus and Seth. There was also a god called Wep-netjerwy (Pyramid Texts, Amduat). The name of the owner of the shabti is traditionally read as Pa-en-imen (pA-n-imn, he who belongs to Amun). In view of the popularity of the god Amun this is a common name, see H. Ranke, Die ägyptischen Personennamen (Glückstadt, 1935) volume I, 106, 8: from the New Kingdom onwards. However, after the name a few signs are visible which are not very clear but seem to be different from mAa xrw ("justified"). Possibly the word imn is followed by the signs nb tAwy. For the name Imn-nb-tAwy see Ranke I, 29, 17, where, in footnote 1, is suggested that the hieroglyphs may have to be read as Imn-nb-mAa-xrw; see also Michelle Thirion, "Notes d'onomastique. Contribution à une révision du Ranke PN", Revue d'Égyptologie 31 (1979), 90 and Revue d'Égyptologie 39 (1988), 145; for Imn-nb or Nb-imn see Ranke I, 29, 14 and I, 183, 10 (reading Nb(=i?) imn). Dimensions: Height 9.9 cm without base, 11.2 cm with base. Provenance: Collection of Dr. John Winnie, St Mary's, Georgia, USA. Parallels: For other shabtis of Pa-en-imen see Percy E. Newberry, Funerary Statuettes and Model Sarcophagi (Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire, 86, nos. 46530-48575) (3 vols., Le Caire, Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1930-1957), nos. 47842-47845 ; Jacques-F. Aubert – Liliane Aubert, Statuettes Égyptiennes, Chaouabtis, Ouchebtis (Paris, 1974), p. 263 (mentioning others in Florence (273), a sale in Marseille, 1971 and a private collection in Paris). Literature: For the title wp nTrwy see: Herman de Meulenaere – Pierre Mackay – Emma Swan Hall - Bernard V. Bothmer, Mendes II (Warminster, Aris & Phillips, 1976), p. 180, no. 48; Alicia D. De Rodrigo, "A Priestly Family of Busiris in the Saite Period", Chronique d'Egypte 74, No. 148, 1999, p. 240-256; Luc Delvaux, "Les bronzes de Sais, les dieux de Bouto et les rois des marais", in W. Clarysse, A. Schoors, H. Willems (eds.), Egyptian Religion, the Last Thousand Years. Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Jan Quaegebeur (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 84-85) (Leuven, Peeters Publishers, 1998), p. 565 and footnote 68; Glenn Janes, Shabtis. A Private View. Ancient Egyptian Funerary Statuettes in European Private Collections (Paris, 2002), p. 165.

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