Shabti of Satmut

Dried clay with an inscription added in black. Mummiform shabti wearing a plain tripartite wig. The arms are comparatively well modelled in relief, and are crossed left over right on the chest. The hands hold a pair of small hoes that are also shown in relief. The face is quite small, and with the details fairly well defined. Flat–backed with no trace of a basket being carried. A hieratic inscription added in black on the front reads: “The Lady of the House, Satmut”. Another shabti in the collection for this owner [no. 1963.188.38 from the Tyndale collection] has a clearer and longer inscription which reads: The Chantress of Amun, the Lady of the House, Satmut. An old label with object is annotated in ink: "Ancient Egyptian. Statuette of very curious form BC 500-400 with hieroglyphics. Excavated at Gurob. From the Tyndale collection." The cemeteries at Gurob were excavated by Loat in 1904, and by Brunton and Engelbach in 1920. No shabtis for Satmut appear to be recorded in the publications that subsequently followed excavations at Gurob. Walter Tyndale worked with Currelly Charles Currelly at Deir el-Bahari 1906-07. Currelly had worked at Gurob in the 1903-04 season and may have given this shabti to Walter Tyndale [informaiton supplied by Dr Daniel Potter, 28.02.2023]. A parallel shabtis for Satmut are in the World Museum collection no. 1963.188.38; and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology no. UC 34368 (also recorded as being ex Tyndale collection).