Statuette of a Servant Roasting a Goose
GEM Number
Collection
Period
Dynasty
Description
Servant statuettes are among the most significant funerary goods included in the burials of high officials during the Old Kingdom. They typically showed servants performing daily life activities and were placed in burials to ensure the welfare of the deceased in the afterlife. One of the largest groups of this type was discovered in the tomb of Niankhpepikem at the necropolis of Meir. Niankhpepikem served under King Pepy I (Meryre) and his burial goods included model boats and seventeen servant statuettes. This painted wooden statuette is from the tomb of Niankhpepikem and it shows a servant squatting while roasting a spitted duck over a hearth, stoking the hot coals with a fan in his right hand.