Statuette of a woman preparing beer

Artefact Details

Gallery number: 47 – Ground Floor

Period: Old Kingdom

Dynasty: 5th Dynasty – (ca. 2494-2345 BC)

Place of discovery: Giza, Excavated by S. Hassan for the Egyptian University in 1929

Size: height: 26,7 cm, width: 10 cm

Material: Painted limestone

Painted limestone statue of a female brewer. The woman is shown in a shoulder-length wig with her natural hair visible across the forehead, a broad collar, and a calf-length skirt that leaves her torso bare. The wig is painted black, the collar blue and white, and the kilt white; her skin is a light reddish brown. She bends forward from the hips over a large ovoid vat with a ridged base and rim, painted a red-brown, into which she immerses her hands; a screen has been left between the brewer and the vat. Both vat and woman are carved on an integral oval base. The sculpture is in good condition, with some pitting and loss to the pigment. There are chips missing from the base.