Statue of Princess Takushit

Copper alloy hollow cast statue of the princess-priestess Takushit. It had ritual, votive, and funerary functions. The statue was found in 1880, in Lower Egypt, on the hill of Kom-Toruga, near Lake Mariut, south of Alexandria.

The use of the statue was ceremonial while the priestess was alive, and was part of the ritual equipment of the sanctuary, in which there was a priestess. After her death, it was used for votive and funerary ends and it decorated her tomb, which, according to the custom of the time, is located within the sanctuary precinct.

This perfectly preserved solid cast statue, made of a mixture of bronze and silver, is the only representation of the princess and priestess Takushit.

Takushit was the daughter of Akanuasa, a ruler during the reign of the King Piankhi. She is shown walking, her body shapely and full, her facial characteristics intense. She wears a long chiton, which emphasizes her figure and is covered with engraved motifs.

These motifs, which are damascened with electrum (gold and silver alloy), are representations of deities from Lower Egypt and Hieroglyphic texts with prayers and dedications addressed to these deities.

Takushit is presented barefoot, with the forward left foot conveying a sense of movement in a walking stance, adding to the realistic appearance of this statue.

She displays the symbols of her religious office and high social standing: the bent left arm would have held the fly-whisk scepter indicating her office, and the extended right a menit musical instrument used during temple ritual. She wears a protective wesekh or usekh collar and two bracelets.

Her voluptuous body is emphasized by a full-length, fitted dress that seems almost diaphanous. The statue was probably the priestess’s funerary monument. Its only parallel is the statue of Karomama , the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, of the 22nd Dynasty (924-887 BC) in the Louvre (inv. 500).

The etchings were inlaid with precious metals and ivory inlays were employed for the eye sockets, eyebrows, and toenails. The original base is missing but the soles of each foot carried a metal tang for insertion into a base of some type.

Third Intermediate Period, Late 25th Dynasty, ca. 670 BC. Now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece. ΑΙΓ.110