Wood Statuette of a Cow

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Middle Kingdom, 11th-12th dynasty, 2137-1781 B.C.

Material: Wood

Dimensions: 8.8 cm x 13.4 cm

Price: 10 000 Euro

Ref: 1537

Provenance: German collection Erika Krautkrämer (1932-2022), acquired in 1998 from the gallery Roswitha Eberwein.

Condition: Horns and tail tip missing, otherwise wonderfully preserved with strong colours.

Description: Very realistic wood statuette of a cow, which once served as a model figure in a tomb endowment dating to the Middle Kingdom. The strong animal with an angular backbone in a striding position with extraordinarily worked out muscles and joints. A hole on the back once served to attach the harness and emphasizes that the cow worked on the field and was exposed to burden. The statuette has a white stucco overlay, the fur is covered with large red dots. Hooves, eyes, snout and whisker are painted in black. The thin tail rests on the body. The ears protruding on the sides. During the Middle Kingdom model groups were characteristically tomb offerings. They symbolized the amenities of life. There were bakeries, as well as breweries or farmers, who worked on the fields with animals. This extraordinarily high-quality statuette originates from such a model group. See for a similar depiction of a cow in the Metropolitan Museum with the Accession Number 20.3.9 or in the British Museum with the museum numbers EA51090, EA51091, as well as EA52947.