Category: Book Review

Name: The Shabti Collections – 6, A Selection from World Museum, Liverpool
Author: Glenn Janes
First published: 2016, Olicar House Publications
Amount of pages: 563
ISBN: 978-0-9566271-6-2
Average price: GBP 120
Availability: Good
Language: English

Content: Description of a selection of the shabtis in the World Museum, Liverpool

Review: 

It took 4 long years waiting, from 2012 to 2016, for the arrival of the next volume in The Shabti Collections series from shabti scholar Glenn Janes.

Following the epical 5th volume with a selection of the Manchesters museum shabti collection it was hard to believe it could get any better, but it did! This 6th, and so far last, volume is the best of the series. It contains a staggering 512 shabtis covered in 275 entries on 563 pages (excluding the elaborate preface).

Apart from the sheer number of shabtis covered, it contains a very wide variety of examples, including royals, and from all time periods, making this one of the best reference books for parallels to which i find myself turn to, more than any other book, first.

For the non specialists the preface contains  a scholary contribution with a brief historical outline of shabtis, as in volume 5, but now pictures are being used from the Liverpool catalogue to show the story in pictures from the museum collection being discussed.

Also building on the experience from volume 5 is that more background information is given for a number of shabtis relating to the find and further funerary equiment. Most notably are the extensive dealings of the shabtis of Seti I and the stone shabtis of Amen-em-ipet. On the Seti I shabtis the author writes a convincing story, attributing a lot of the uninscribed shabtis from this museum to the famous pharao. Many musea and private collectors should reexamine their wooden shabtis based on these parallels!

Again the book is filled with excellent colour pictures and with some side pictures on some of the shabtis. Another noteworthy point is that the parallel overview per entry, which is much more complete than in previous editions, also mentions whether it concerns workers or overseers. A humongous task completed by the author, further adhencing the importance of this book as reference book.

The only small downside of this book is that the binding is perhaps not best suited for the enormous amount of heavy pages. It deserves a hard cover bound version!

Conclusion

The ideal reference book on shabtis, with a huge amount of shabtis, exquisite research and parallel information. Highly recommendable for every museum and persons with an interest in Ancient Egypt and shabtis in particular.

Name: The Shabti Collections – 5, A Selection from the Manchester Museum
Author: Glenn Janes
First published: 2012, Olicar House Publications
Amount of pages: 500
ISBN: 978-0-9566271-5-5
Average price: GBP 95
Availability: Good
Language: English

Content: Description of a selection of the shabtis in the Manchester Museum

Review: 

Following the initial 4 volumes of relatively small UK collections, shabti scholar Glenn Janes was ready to take on the major task of cataloging the shabtis of the Manchester Museum.  The museum has one of the larger museum collection of shabtis in the world with some 1000 shabtis. Together with Dik van Bommel and his partner Ciska i had a small role in assisting the author with this catalogue on site at the Manchester Museum for measurements and photographs.

With the fantastic material of the Manchester Museum the author made a very recommendable book as it has everything a shabti enthousiast is looking for.

It contains over 500 pages describing 522 shabtis from all sorts and materials, excellent colour pictures and with side pictures this time around on some of the shabtis.

For the non specialists the preface contains  a scholary contribution with a brief historical outline of shabtis.

Another great part of the book is the back ground description on the find of the tomb of Priest Horudja from the Late Period. Manchester Museum possesses no less than 58 shabtis of this owner, making it interesting study material. The author reprinted parts of Petrie excavation notes and added further info on the owner, his tomb and other funerary equipment. Further research to the shabtis of this owner is certainly worthwile.

Conclusion

With this volume Glenn Janes rocked the shabti world. An amazing accomplishment and recommendable for everyone interested in Ancient Egypt and a must have for all shabti researchers.

Name: The Shabti Collections – 4, Stockport Museums
Author: Glenn Janes
First published: 2012, Olicar House Publications
Amount of pages: 31
ISBN: 978-0-9566271-3-1
Average price: GBP 20
Availability: Good
Language: English

Content: Description of shabtis in the Stockport Museums

Review: 

In his series of cataloging collections of museums in the North West of England, shabti scholar Glenn Janes arrived in Stockport in 2012. The collective museums of Stockport possess 22 shabtis that are published in this fourth volume in the Shabti Collections series.

The pictures and description of the shabtis are excellent as we are used by this author who is known for his extensive knowledge on the topic and quality of his research.

This is the smallest booklet of the series and the very limited amount of shabtis in just 19 entries make this volume less attractive for the general researcher. On the other hand, it does contain some rare examples and with a price of GBP 20 one can never go wrong.

Conclusion

The price/quality for this book is excellent as always with this author. Most suited for the serious shabti researcher.

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.