Grain Grinder

Enigmatic polished granite stone object that is semicircular in shape and resembles a grinder. Both sides are lightly incised with a female figure grinding corn before a deity. On one side Ptah and the other his wife, Sekhmet. A column of hieroglyphs runs the length of the top surface of the grinder. The inscription is very worn and awkward to read. Similar in character to the highly specialised type of servant figure from the New Kingdom made from stone or metal that is of a figure kneeling or prostrate before the god Ptah. Usually associated with high priests of Ptah at Memphis. The shabti text inscribed on them indicates that the owners represented themselves as millers in order to make offerings for Nut or Osiris. Chipped, surface loss, white residue, labels adhered to surface, adhesive residue. One of two in the collection (other is 1973.4.163b). Purchased at Sotheby's, London, 26 June - 6 July 1922 (MacGregor Collection) Lot 1040. Wellcome Historical Medical Museum accession no. 17238: "Two corn rubbers in hard mottled stone. One inscribed 5½" x 3". Mc3202".