Mahu and his wife Duat

This doubled seated painted limestone statue depicts the overseer Mahu, who is titled with “Overseer of the work of Amun at Karnak” and his wife Duat, who was a priestess with the title “Priestess of Amun-Ra and Hathor“. Due to their titles it is to be believed the pair were from Thebes, and thus, it is likely this piece was from the Theban Necropolis.

The statue is 60cm in height, 34cm wide and weighs approximately 30kg. It dates from around the middle of the 18th Dynasty, and was created as a funerary object. It would have originally been placed within a tomb or temple chapel, in hopes for the deceased pair to receive offerings from the living.

The statue was sadly broken in two pieces before it was acquired by the British Museum in 1839. This resulted in Duat getting to the museum two years before her other half Mahu was able to join her once again.

Did you know “Duat” was the name for the Ancient Egyptian Underworld?

The Duat (Ancient Egyptian: dwꜣt, Egyptological pronunciation “do-aht”, Coptic: ⲧⲏ, also appearing as Tuat, Tuaut or Akert, Amenthes, Amenti, or Neter-khertet) is the underworld in ancient Egyptian mythology. It has been represented in hieroglyphs as a star-in-circle: 𓇽.

The god Osiris was believed to be the lord of the underworld. He was the first mummy as depicted in the Osiris myth and he personified rebirth and life after death. The underworld was also the residence of various other gods along with Osiris.

Summary:
Seated limestone statuette of Mahu and his wife Duat
New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1550-1292 B.C.
Theban Necropolis.
British Museum. EA460