Wooden Female Figure

myminifactory

Culture: Ancient Egypt Material: Wood Accession No: JB 004 Current Location: The Hunt Museum, Limerick.A wooden female carved from a single piece of wood, she stands upright looking ahead with her arms by her sides. She is reported to have been found in a boat. Her hair is short and curled maybe indicating her youth. Female hair was decorated with ribbons, flowers, rings and amulets. Women of early Ancient and the Middle Kingdom preferred short hair. Wigs, used by the elite were coloured, blue, red or green decorated with precious stones and jewellery. Small figurines were models for larger sculptures, but were also Ka statues, carved in wood or stone and painted in likeness of their owner. They were receptacles for the ‘life-force’ or spirit of a body and stood in small niches in funerary houses or mortuary chapels. Boats were significant, believed to be the travel method of Gods.