DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4862#0037
Fragments of
shawabti
figures
Fragments of
a statue
THE TOMB AND THE SITE
The disturbed state in which this passage to the sepulchral chamber and
all other recesses and wells of the tomb were found, deprived the fragments
and objects which they contained of any proved claim to be part of the
original burial, or of associated interments. No record of the exact prove-
nance of objects, therefore, is of any value, except the one noted above.
The only pieces of burial furniture accredited to Puyemre by actual inscrip-
tion are fragments of two or three limestone shawabti figurines inscribed
with the usual address to these little laborers, "0 thou shawabti-figurel If
the second priest of Amon, Puyemre, is called up for tasks to be performed
in the underworld, as a man of means is to his property, to break up the
fields, irrigate the banks, and transport by water the earth of the east and
the west,1 say, 'Here am I!' " (See Plate LXXIX.)
At an earlier period the device of a substitute in the corvee of Osiris
had not yet been reached. The deceased himself had to perform it. But
he provided a special form of himself for the purpose, somewhat resem-
bling these figurines. This use overlapped the later practice, for the Ber-
lin collection possesses a little pottery figure of Puyemre in its coffin
(No. 10266).
Two fragments of a squatting figure in hard limestone, may also be
confidently assigned to Puyemre, and in them we may have the relics of
the statue which occupied the shrine and received offerings there (Plate
LXXIX). Its attitude of comfortable rest may not, indeed, have proper
dignity in our eyes; but as this pose was often chosen for monuments
dedicated in the temples and the statue bears a burial petition to the pan-
theon, the criticism would be misplaced. Only the lower part (18 cm. high)
between the knees and the ankles is preserved. The left hand lies flatly
on the lap of the tightly strained skirt. The back pedestal is uninscribed,
but in front one reads "[A ritual offering ... to] Osiris, who rules
[eternity, to . . . ] to Hu, Neith, Sia, . . . Upwawet, Nefertem, Anubis,
Amunet (?), Nut, Isis, Tefnut, Selket, Sekhmet, to the gods of heaven
and earth and the gods who are in the waters, the two divine kings and
'Does this refer to the mineral deposits in the desert with which the peasants still fertilize their
crops? But unless there were pools or canals all along the desert edge I do not see why the transport should
be by water, if the heavenly Egypt was a replica of the earthly.
shawabti
figures
Fragments of
a statue
THE TOMB AND THE SITE
The disturbed state in which this passage to the sepulchral chamber and
all other recesses and wells of the tomb were found, deprived the fragments
and objects which they contained of any proved claim to be part of the
original burial, or of associated interments. No record of the exact prove-
nance of objects, therefore, is of any value, except the one noted above.
The only pieces of burial furniture accredited to Puyemre by actual inscrip-
tion are fragments of two or three limestone shawabti figurines inscribed
with the usual address to these little laborers, "0 thou shawabti-figurel If
the second priest of Amon, Puyemre, is called up for tasks to be performed
in the underworld, as a man of means is to his property, to break up the
fields, irrigate the banks, and transport by water the earth of the east and
the west,1 say, 'Here am I!' " (See Plate LXXIX.)
At an earlier period the device of a substitute in the corvee of Osiris
had not yet been reached. The deceased himself had to perform it. But
he provided a special form of himself for the purpose, somewhat resem-
bling these figurines. This use overlapped the later practice, for the Ber-
lin collection possesses a little pottery figure of Puyemre in its coffin
(No. 10266).
Two fragments of a squatting figure in hard limestone, may also be
confidently assigned to Puyemre, and in them we may have the relics of
the statue which occupied the shrine and received offerings there (Plate
LXXIX). Its attitude of comfortable rest may not, indeed, have proper
dignity in our eyes; but as this pose was often chosen for monuments
dedicated in the temples and the statue bears a burial petition to the pan-
theon, the criticism would be misplaced. Only the lower part (18 cm. high)
between the knees and the ankles is preserved. The left hand lies flatly
on the lap of the tightly strained skirt. The back pedestal is uninscribed,
but in front one reads "[A ritual offering ... to] Osiris, who rules
[eternity, to . . . ] to Hu, Neith, Sia, . . . Upwawet, Nefertem, Anubis,
Amunet (?), Nut, Isis, Tefnut, Selket, Sekhmet, to the gods of heaven
and earth and the gods who are in the waters, the two divine kings and
'Does this refer to the mineral deposits in the desert with which the peasants still fertilize their
crops? But unless there were pools or canals all along the desert edge I do not see why the transport should
be by water, if the heavenly Egypt was a replica of the earthly.