Art Resource - ART200512

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Ivory figure of a woman with incised features, from Badari, Egypt, Predynastic Period, c4000 BC. The figure appears to be crudely made, but the carving is precise and the limbs are well formed and smoothly finished. The emphasis on the eyes, breasts, hips and pubic area are stylistic rather than due to poor execution. Similar figures, all of which focused on these areas, were made of clay, wood and stone. This suggests that the figures might have been linked with sexuality, rather than being dolls, as was once supposed. It now seems likely that these figures were linked with the rebirth and regeneration that the deceased hoped would transfer them to the afterlife. It is made from one of the lower canines of a hippopotamus, an animal that could still be found in Egypt at the time. This type of figure is found in burials of both men and women of the Badarian culture (c4000 BC), the earliest identifiable culture of the Predynastic period.
EA, 59648

Location British Museum/London/Great Britain

Unique Identifier ART200512

Type Image

Purpose Public

Size 2955px × 5911px

Photo Credit Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY

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