Votive Box with Shrew Figure

Solid cast figure of a shrew standing on a small shrine-shaped box that would have held a votive animal mummy. Described by Professor Percy Newberry in 1910 as being of a “good technique” and dating to the Ptolemaic or Romano-Egyptian period. As a nocturnal creature, the shrew was associated with the ichneumon which lived during the day, and together they represented the two faces of the sun-god. Compare with a similar example in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (UC 16447). Air Raid Protection no. 1518.