Fake Figurine of Seated Isis and Horus

Fake Figurine of Seated Isis and Horus

A fake Egyptian figurine in the form of a seated Isis holding the infant Horus. The fabric is orange with patches of dark grey on the head and legs. The figure has a typical moon and horn headdress, with the tips of both horns broken. The head of the figure has almond shaped eyes, a triangular nose and thin lips. The ears extend in front of a tripartite wig. The arms are thin, with one holding the infant Horus and the other grasping the right breast. The infant Horus is poorly defined and is broken at the waist. Isis is seated on a wide rectangular throne and wears a long skirt to her ankles, decorated only with a single line between the legs. The feet are well defined and sit on a small pedestal attached to the chair.

The figurine is a fake of a well established type. Genuine Isis and Horus figurines are almost always found in faience or bronze, rather than terracotta, and the overall appearance lacks the refinement of genuine pieces.

Fake figurines, including shabtis, were produced in vast numbers in Egypt in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for sale to unsuspecting tourists. No exact parallel for this example has been identified but Isis and Horus figures are very common. Many examples are known from First World War collections but it is unknown how Pte Chenery came to acquire his collection of fake statues as he apparently never visited Egypt during his war service.

AD 1900 - AD 1915

Height: 126 mm

Width: 33 mm

Depth: 54 mm

Weight: 162 g

C.005.006

QM H14422

© Queensland Museum, Peter Waddington.

Said to have been collected by Pte. F Chenery, Egypt, 1917-18.

Queensland Museum, Brisbane

Hagen, F. & Ryholt, K. S. B. (2016). The antiquities trade in Egypt 1880-1930: the H.O. Lange papers. Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, pp. 147-52.

Jones, M. (ed.). (1990). Fake? The Art of Deception. British Museum, no. 272.

Potter, D. (2019). The Mystery of Modern Shabtis. National Museums Scotland Blog. https://blog.nms.ac.uk/2019/10/28/mystery-modern-shabtis/

Schneider, H. (1970). Shabtis: an introduction to the history of ancient Egyptian funerary statuettes with a catalogue of the collection of shabtis in the national Museum of Antiquities at Leiden. Rijksmuseum, vol. II, pp. 5-6.

Wakeling, T.G. (1912). Forged Egyptian Antiquities. A&C Black.

Steindorff, G., & Rosenthal, G. (1947). Fakes and Fates of Egyptian Antiquities: A Supplement to the Catalogue of Egyptian Sculpture. The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, 10, 52-59. www.jstor.org/stable/20168799

Queensland Museum Historical Register, H14417-23.

Aubert, J. F., & Aubert, L. (2005). Statuettes funéraires égyptiennes du département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques. Éditions de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, pp. 273-5.

P.005

Mr James Donaldson