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Concubine of the Dead
JE 47710 Cairo Antiquity Museum
Material: Blue Faience
Size: Height 13 cm
Location: Theban Necropolis, Tomb of Neferhotep
(TT316)
Excavation: Metropolitan Museum of Art Excavations of
1922-1923
Period: 11th Dynasty, Reign of Mentuhotep (2061-2010
BC)
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Interestingly, though decorated and painted female
figures interpreted as symbols and amulets associated
with fertility have been dated as early as the Preynastic
Period, funerary assemblages from the Middle
Kingdom often lack the lower part of their legs. It
is not clear whether this was believed to have some
magical or apotropaic value such as preventing the
statuette from leaving the tomb.
This intensely blue figurine wears a smooth,
three-part wig that leaves the ears uncovered. On the
front of the thighs are diamond shapes that in real life
would have been painted with henna.
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