The Merrin Gallery

Royal Shawabty: Egypt at the Merrin Gallery

ROYAL SHAWABTY
Late Period, Dynasty XXX, ca. 4th Century BC
Green schist
Height: 6 ¾ inches (17.2 cm)
Private Collection
Exhibited: The Brooklyn Museum

Upon first glance of the royal shawabty featured at the Merrin Gallery’s 1992 Egypt, the viewer is immediately stunned by the lifelike beauty of the centuries-old stone figure. Through the gaze of the royal shawabty, miniscule in size yet almost daunting in exquisite detail, the viewer is brought back to the time of Egypt’s Late Period, seamlessly transitioning from the modern 5th Avenue address of the Manhattan Merrin Gallery.

The Egyptian Late Period saw a shift toward idealized human forms in shawabty forming a prominent role in the Ancient Egyptian funerary rite. The very hard stone and small size of the shawabty further reinforces the idea that this figurine was the upper portion of a larger figurine meant to accompany its owner through the journey of death.

The Osiride figure once featured a royal emblem which has since been lost. The emblem, which would have extended from the shawabty’s intricately chiseled stone wig, is hypothesized to have been made of a contrasting material, and whose one-time presence as part of the shawabty is evidenced by a clear socket where the emblem would once have been joined. A uraeus cobra has graced the front of the royal shawabty figurine’s wig since its creation, and loyally remains at the forefront of the ancient royal visage, though missing an originally extending head.

Mysteries of ancient detail surround the royal shawabty spotlighted during the Merrin Gallery’s landmark show, Egypt. The royal beard, which once snaked to the base of the figurine’s neck, may have ended in a curl, but the only remains of what was surely once the proud beard of a revered monarch is a rough, broken edge.

Thanks to a number of clues present in the artistry of the royal shawabty to such historical monarchs of Dynasty XXX as Nectanebo II, Teos, or Nectanebo I. It is perhaps the royal shawabty’s expression, however, which gives the viewer the most insight into the character of the subject. Here is a face in which personality is evident: in which extremely hard stone was scrupulously chiseled to reveal a decidedly human face, a Mona Lisa smile, a shapely chin, and full cheeks which seem to bring a crinkle to the shawabty’s almond-shaped eyes. Here the Merrin Gallery presents an expert rendition of an image which would become immortal: here is Ancient Egypt.