Statue of Psamteksaneith Holding a Shrine

CG 726 (JE 31335  Cairo Antiquity Museum Material: Grey-Green Schist
Size: Height: 44.5 cm
Location: Mit Rahina (Memphis)
Period: Late Period (6th - 4th Century BC) From at least the 19th Dynasty, statues depicting a figure holding a small shrine, or naos, were fairly common. They became widespread from the 21st Dynasty in the Late Period.  Psamteksaneith was the Royal Superintendent of Works in Silver and Gold. He holds a naos containing a mummiform effigy of Osiris.

Photograph by: Diaa Khalil

These funerary figurines from the tomb of Yuya and Thuya were meant to substitute for the deceased when hard labor was to be done. On the bottom left are miniature tools which they were supposed to use.

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