Head with tripartite wig, probably from a shabti
New Kingdom
Expertly carved and highly polished, this fragment represents an important but relatively rare type of funerary figure from the mid-18th Dynasty. The style of the face, with tilted eyes, broad cosmetic lines, a delicate nose, and a full, slightly-smiling mouth, helps to place the piece in this period (ca. 1400 B.C.), relatively early in the history of the shabti. At this time such figures, meant to carry out labor for the deceased in the afterlife, display a great deal of variety and individuality.
What remains of the wig suggests that it was of a type known as "tripartite," which would have fallen in three sections (two in front and one in back) to about the top of the chest. The beard, of which only the top is preserved, would likely have been the divine type: long and cylindrical, and turned up at the tip.
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