This is the rating and price for Middle Kingdom Wood Boatmen, 2001

Description : Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom, 11th to 12th Dynasty, ca. 2130 to 1802 BCE. A splendid ensemble of 4 wood boatmen, each depicted in the characteristic seated position of a rower and hand-painted in hues of sienna, black, and white atop gesso. All 4 men present slender bodies with lengthy arms that fall to their sides from square shoulders, as their hands rest in their laps. A cropped coiffure caps each head, as they gaze forward from sizeable, outlined eyes beneath thick brows. Though their upper bodies are bare, their legs are covered by loincloths. Size of largest: 1.1 W x 4.4 H (2.8 cm x 11.2 cm), 5.1 H (13 cm) on included custom stand. During the Sixth Dynasty, it became common to place wooden models of lifelike scenes in Egyptian tombs, by the Middle Kingdom, they were placed in the tomb chamber, around the coffin, although some very rich tombs had a separate chamber just for wooden models. Two ships are found in almost all tombs that have models from this time period, and those ships are, during the Middle Kingdom, staffed by boatmen like these 4. These boatmen were made to be servants in the afterlife, ready to row the deceased upon the eternal Nile as they would in life. Scholars believe that the Egyptians envisioned death as a journey via boat across the River Nile - the sacred river which ran down the center of the country and was respected as a resource for agriculture, trade, transport, and a symbol of fertility. According to the curatorial team at the MFA Boston, such funerary vessels made of papyrus bundles lashed together, transported the deceased either to a cemetery across the Nile or to the sanctuary of the god of the afterlife, Osiris, at Abydos. Models of such vessels were painted white with reddish lines representing the bindings. As the practice of creating wooden boat models with boatmen continued into the New Kingdom, the numbers continued to increase. In fact, scholars believe that more than 700 figures populated the tomb of Sety I (1294–1279 BCE). Provenance: ex-Providence, Rhode Island, USA collection, ex-Royal Athena, New York City, New York, USA, December 1, 2001 All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm. Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping. #169305
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