Description
Name owner: Maatkara
Title owner: The illuminated, the Osiris, princess, adoratrice of Amun
Dimensions (hxwxd): 11.5 x 4.3 x 2.0 cm
Translation hieroglyphs: The illuminated, the Osiris, Maat-ka-Ra, true of voice
Preservation: Feet gone, otherwise excellent
R-R: 145.7
Provenance: Sold at auction in Germany in 1960.
Comments:
The most important lady of her time was probably Maat-ka-Ra. She was Divine Adotrice of Amen at the time that the High Priests of Thebes were at their highest powers. As she was also a princes with the blood of Lower Egypt in her veins (she was a daughter of Pinedjem I and his wife Queen Henuttawy), she created stabilility in the Two Lands. She was the first in a new series of Divine Adoctrices that did not only use their name in a cartouche but also took a throne name, being Mut-em-hat, probably a reference to Queen Hatsepsut.
The titles on her shabtis include Divine Adotrice, Godswife of Amen and Lord of the two lands. This shabti features the so called “royal blue” or “Deir el Bahri blue”, which only appears in the Royal Cache although not all shabtis in this Cache possess this colour. The workmanship on the shabtis for this lady is excellent and obviously shows the female nature of its owner by the shape of the face and the indication of her breasts. Like the shabtis of her mother Queen Henuttawy, the shabtis of Maat-ka-Ra have an uraeus in the wig.
For a reference see Bovot, nr. 155 till 161, where 7 examples of the Louvre are described. Also Bovot provides for short reference list. It appears that SC/100 originates from the same mold as nr. 155 as described in Bovot.
A full overview of her 186 plus shabtis is now published in an article by me which you can read here.
