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An Egyptian wood shabti box for the Singer of the Sanctuary, Dit-ast-hebsed image 1
An Egyptian wood shabti box for the Singer of the Sanctuary, Dit-ast-hebsed image 2
Property from a Princely Collection (Lots 1-74)
Lot 25

An Egyptian wood shabti box for the Singer of the Sanctuary, Dit-ast-hebsed

Antiquities
4 July 2024, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £11,520 inc. premium

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An Egyptian wood shabti box for the Singer of the Sanctuary, Dit-ast-hebsed
Third Intermediate-Late Period, 22nd-26th Dynasty, circa 841-525 B.C.
21cm high incl. lid, 31.5cm x 15cm

Footnotes

Provenance:
Joseph Nestor collection, acquired 1910-1940.
Anonymous sale; Pierre Bergé & Associés, Paris, 1st June 2012, lot 56.
Property of a Princely Collection, acquired from the above sale.

The lids of shabti boxes of the 25th-26th Dynasty were usually painted with a boat, as with the above lot. During this period pilgrimages were made by boat to the holy cult site of Osiris in Abydos. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, have a box similar to the lot above showing a boat with its sail hoisted, suggesting it was heading South having successfully received the blessings of the god, thus facilitating the journey through the after-life (acc. no. 25.3.207.1a, b).

The office of Singer of the Sanctuary was second only to the Divine Adoratrice, and is attested from the 22nd Dynasty until the late 26th Dynasty. There is another known woman called Dit-ast-hebsed who belonged to the family of Montuemhat, from the 25th-26th Dynasty (see J. Aubert, Statuettes Égyptiennes: Chouabtis, Ouchebtis, Paris, 1974, pl.54), though our box seems to have belonged to a woman during the Libyan period.

Additional information

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