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Background:

Development and importance:

The statues of servants provide us with information about the activities of daily life of ancient Egyptians and help us to understand the scenes that are depicted on the walls. They also prove that the ancient Egyptian art is not static as they contain scenes of movement. They are a good example of realism as they represent the servant with actual features and different ages. To the ancient Egyptian a statue of a servant performing his daily duties is made in order to be put in the tomb and by magical means is committed to serve his master in the after life as he did during his life time.

These statues developed from one time to the other. In the Old Kingdom sense of servants were either carved or painted on the walls of funerary chambers. By the end of the 5th Dynasty statues of servants were made out of lime stone in small sizes. They were placed around the statue of the tomb owner in order to serve him in the after life. In the first intermediate period and Middle Kingdom the servants’ statues were made out of wood and placed inside the burial chamber around the sarcophagus of the deceased. In the New Kingdom and late period a new kind of statues appeared which is the wSAbty. It is an ancient Egyptian word that means the one who answers. The different between the statue of a servant and the wSAbty is that the later is especially made to serve in the after life in the fields of heaven and not during the life time of the deceased.

The servants’ show case:

They are made out of lime stone and were discovered in the tomb of mrs anx at Giza by Selim Hassan. Most of the statues are represented naked or half naked. This is because either due to the heat or to enable them to work freely or because they were young under the age of adolescence. Some of the female servants are colored with the reddish brown color that is supposed to be exclusively for males in ancient Egyptian art but this is because similar to the males they worked in the sun so their skin became darker. The statues are ill proportioned since the artist was free having no rules as he is not making a royal statue. These statues represent different daily activities as follows:

Bread making:

Bread is an essential element in the ancient Egyptian’s daily meal. There were many kinds of bread made by either wheat flour for the rich or barley flour for the poor. The process of bread making went through many phases; first the parching of the grain then crushing it in limestone mortars then milling the grain then sieving the flour and it was placed in baskets to squeeze water out of it then it was leavened. Then they place the dough in moulds made out of clay.

In the show case there is a man waiting for the bread to be baked. He is represented sitting and putting one hand on his cheek with lots of bread loaves in front of him. The smile on his face show that he is pleased.  

Beer making:

It was one of the main drinks. There were many kinds of beer. The darkest was the strongest kind. Partially baked bread was brought and water was added to produce a mash which was left to ferment. Later it was squeezed and the beer came out of it. It was made out of barley bread and grapes. The statue of a woman making beer represents her kneading the dough and the beer comes out of it into the jar beneath

Pottery making:

 Pottery making was a very famous duty in Ancient Egypt because clay and mud were everywhere. Pots were processed either by hand or by the pottery wheel. Pots were used to store things and the pot was covered by a labeled seal. The statue in the show case represents a man shaping a pot by his hands. He is seated on a block his legs are spread. In front of him there once were three oval depressions for three more jars. He is wearing a very short black wig and a short kilt. He body is not well proportioned but his face was carefully carved.

Statue of a lad:

It represents a naked young man carrying a bag on his shoulder and his master’s sandals in his hand. The artist might have represented him naked to prove his ability in representing different parts of the body.

There is also a statue of a male servant roasting a goose