Votive Box with Shrew Figures

Two figures of shrews 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 Saite Period or later. As a nocturnal creature, the shrew was associated with the ichneumon which is awake during the day, and together they represented the two faces of the sun-god. There is a very similar object in the collections of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (H5190). Air Raid Protection no. 1517.