Faience Statuette of Taweret

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Late Period, 26th dynasty, 664-525 B.C.

Material: Fayence

Dimensions: 10 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 1352

Provenance: Old French private collection acquired in the 1960s. Thence in the Spanish private collection O.P., Barcelona, Spain. Accompanied by a Spanish antiquities passport.

Condition: Legs and lower part of the Sa amulet are missing, a small chip on the right lobe of the wig, otherwise intact and of excellent quality.

Description: Extremely finely crafted green and black faience statuette of the Egyptian goddess Taweret, who is also known under the Greek name Thoëris. Taweret, the protective goddess of pregnant women, appears in the body of a pregnant hippopotamus, has human breasts and the head and mouth of a hippopotamus. The arms are human, the paws those of a lion. She has her arms in front of her stomach and is holding the Sa amulet, an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph that stands for protection. Taweret wears a black tripartite wig, the front lobes of which reach down to her pendulous breasts. The tenon on the head once held a metal sun disk. In the back a hatched back pillar, which stands for the stylized tail of the crocodile. The high quality of this statuette suggests that it was made for the temple, possibly for the Egyptian "birth house", where this goddess was linked with Isis. On an old, trapezoidal wood base.