Servant statuette

This wooden figure of a standing man carrying sheets of white linen imitates a servant statuette, a type of funerary equipment that served to depict a range of different working activities. These small statues were typical of the elite burials from the late Old Kingdom to the early Middle Kingdom. This piece is, however, fake, produced in modern times, belonging to a group of four servant statues all originating from the same workshop and purchased as one lot. The body is painted brick red; his hair is indicated by a deeper shade of red, whereas the eyebrows, the contours of the wide-open, white eyes, the iris as well as the thin beard are painted in black. His is stout-bodied; the left arm is disproportionately elongated, almost to the ankle, his left hand and both feet are exaggerated. He wears a white apron. He is shown with folded sheets on his head steadied by his upraised right arm, and he carries another sheet under his left armpit. Composite scenes showing labour activities in a launderette are known from the time of the early Middle Kingdom. A figure carrying freshly laundered sheets may have served as a model for the maker of this fake statuette.
Forged servant statues regularly appear in the art market. Their doll-like, often clumsy appearance makes them attractive, charming artefacts that are easy to forge at a low cost but sell extremely well. A group of four figures in the Egyptian Collection, including this statuette, is claimed to have come from the Middle-Egyptian town Assyut, and a particularly close similarity in their size, body proportions and style of decoration suggests that they were evidently made by the same hand. Yet, the methods of manufacture and certain postures, uncharacteristic of the genuine pieces, reveal that they are all forged antiquities.