Author: Niek de Haan

Name: The Shabti Collections – 3, Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service
Author: Glenn Janes
First published: 2011, Olicar House Publications
Amount of pages: 98
ISBN: 9-780956627124
Average price: GBP 35
Availability: Good
Language: English

Content: Description of shabtis in the Touchstones Rochdale Museum

Review: 

This third volume of the Shabti Collections series from shabti scholar Glenn Janes was first released in 2o11.

Some 100 different shabtis are published in 50 different entries. The recipe is the same as the first two volumes, good life-size colour pictures from the  front and back and a reasonabe amount of parallel information of the objects discussed.

There are no spectaculair shabtis to be found in this volume. Nevertheless, these small local museums do contain rare and interesting shabtis and Rochdale is no exception. For me, the most interesting shabtis were the black faience New Kingdom shabtis with white panels of inscription on the front. We have seen similar shabtis pop up in the antiquities market at the end of the 1990’s for  different owners and there were questions about their authenticity. The shabtis published in this volume proof that this type did exist.

I applaud the author for his research and making this collection known to the world.

Conclusion

This book is mainly for the die-hard shabti researcher who wants to have it all.

Name: The Amasis Collection
Author: Glenn Janes
First published: 2020, The Amadeus Press
Amount of pages: 335
ISBN: 978-0-9566271-7-9
Average price: GBP 120
Availability: Good
Language: English

Content: Description of shabtis and other pieces in the Amasis collection

Review: 

The latest release of shabti scholar Glenn Janes is arguably his best one yet. Following his initial and fantastic Shabtis – A private view, he published six UK museum collections as part of his The Shabticollections Vol 1-6. Volume 3-6 will be reviewed in a separate post soon.

With the publication of The Amasis Collection he is taking it to another and unprecedented level. The shabtis get sharp and full colour pictures from all angles. Furthermore, the parallel research is extremely complete (more so than in any other book on shabtis). New is that he also publishes other items from the relevant owner such as the coffins, shabti boxes and / or other relevant items, details about the tomb and so on. An unbelievable amount of detail and with the accuracy as we are used to from him. Some owners get an ever larger parallel comparison such as the shabtis of Pinedjem I, Henut-tawy A and Maat-ka-ra, all from the Royal Cache. Those studies are scientific articles in itself.

Interesting addition to the book is the foreword of Jean Thomassen, a famous painter from the Netherlands, with indepth knowledge of the art trade in the Netherlands. In the foreword Jean Thomassen describes the various collectors and dealers from the 1950’s onwards.

The bibliography is probably the largest ever published totalling 23 pages! The book is hard cover (the Shabticollections series is soft cover) and of high paper quality.

The only downside for the reader could be that it describes only 79 shabtis, which is a limited amount for enthousiasts / researchers looking for parallels. That is hardly the fault of the author who delivered a master piece.

Conclusion

This book is the best researched book on a shabti collection and is therefore highly recommeded. We can only wish that the author will continue with this excellent level.