bavarikon4UDescription
The statuette of a girl is one of the most beautiful examples of an entire group of servants and musicians from the second half of the eighteenth dynasty, which stands in the tradition of motifs of servants’ figures of the Middle Kingdom.
The standing figure originally held with its right hand an object before the body, which could be fixed originally by means of the bunghole below the umbilicus. As may be deducted from comparable pieces, it could have been a separately made musical instrument, a small pet (cat/dog) or a bowl for the storage of ointments. The nudity of the girl hints at her status as servant or musician, as is confirmed by numerous murals in Theban tombs. Her full lips as well as her bobbed hair mark her as Nubian. Members of this population living in an area south of Egypt were often found among the domestic staff in noble Egyptian households.
The slightly knock-kneed legs as well as their ample thighs – visible from the side – that quickly taper down to thin shanks are still in the stylistic tradition of Amarna art and, therefore, may be dated to the late eighteenth dynasty.
Author
Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst München (SMAEK)