Lot 2A
Egypt, Middle Kingdom, 11th to 12th Dynasty, ca. 2030 to 1640 BCE. A sacred boatman figure, skillfully carved in the characteristic kneeling position of a rower, with separately carved articulated arms, which most likely were raised to hold oars in its original context. Once carved, the figure was covered in a thin layer of gesso and painted in red, black, cream, and white hues. This example still retains carved and painted facial details and a classic cap-styled coiffure. Archaeologists typically find two ships in almost all tombs that have models from the Middle Kingdom period, and those ships are usually staffed by boatmen like this one - created to be a servants in the afterlife, ready to row the deceased upon the eternal Nile, as actual boatmen would have done in real life. Size: 8.125" H (20.6 cm); 8.875" H (22.5 cm) on included custom stand.
During the Sixth Dynasty, it became common to place wooden models of lifelike scenes in Egyptian tombs; by the Middle Kingdom, they were placed in the tomb chamber, around the coffin, although some very lavish tombs had a separate chamber just for wooden models. Funerary boat models were created to assist in the deceased's journey through the underworld, and the most well-known models came from Meketre's tomb, more than half of which were funerary boats.
Provenance: private Vero Beach, Florida, USA collection
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#137875
- Condition: Expected surface wear with pigment loss, fissures, and abraded areas commensurate with age. Minor chips to fisted hands and fissure to pigmented surface across lap. Still a wonderful example, and separately carved articulated arms fitted to shoulders with wooden dowels still display movement.
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