An Egyptian bright blue glazed faience shabti for the Supreme Chief of the Harem of Amun, Ast-em-Khebit
Third Intermediate Period, 21st Dynasty, circa 988-955 B.C.
15cm high
Footnotes:
Provenance:
Bodo Bleß (1940-2022) collection, Berlin, formed from ca. 1960 onwards (photographed by Herr Bless in the 1970s-1980s).

Ast-em-khebit, half sister of Pinudjem II, was also his second wife, and mother to two daughters and a son Pasebkhanut II. Her mummy, coffins and other funerary equipment were buried alongside Pinudjem II in TT320 near Dei el-Bahari and are now in Cairo. For a shabti for Pinudjem II, see lot 291 in this sale. For further discussion of the lives of the High Priests of Amun, see A. Dodson, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, London, 2004, pp. 196-209. See also G. Janes, Shabtis, a Private View, Paris, 2002, p. 59, no. 29.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: *
* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.

The shabti appears to be intact except for a small restored chip to the knuckles of the proper right hand.
The black glaze details are faded in parts. There is a shallow hairline stress crack to the glaze on the proper right cheek extending towards the left brow, which would have happened in its original manufacture. There is some overall surface wear including pitting and encrustation, particularly at the top of the wig.
The shabti has been attached to a wood base, with collection label, no. 33.