W679

W679 A female servant holding a sack?

A large number of servant figurines have been excavated from ancient Egyptian tombs. Because of the number and because they are small and portable thus collectable and also relatively easy to fake, a number of those found in museums may not be genuine. Others may be essentially genuine items but ‘improved’ to make them more saleable. It is likely that in a number of cases the forgers used genuine ancient Egyptian wood. 

The item depicted here could be genuine but the fact that the body and arms are mode in one piece suggests that they are possible forgeries. Usually the arms were made separately. 

This items was part of the MacGregor collection purchased by Wellcome in 1928.