Female Figure Painted terracotta, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm) Predynastic Period, Naqada IIa Period, ca. 3500-3400 B.C.E. Probably from Ma'mariya 07.447.505 , Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund Photo © Joan Lansberry, May 2008

(from the info card) "This female figure, shown in a long white skirt, was found in a tomb. Does she represent a goddess, a priestess, or a mourner? Is she grieving, dancing, or manifesting her power? Why are her feet not shown, and why is her head reduced to a birdlike beak? This striking statuette, one of the most famous Predynastic works in the world, raises questions that we may never be able to answer." Perhaps she has the 'birdlike beak' because she is soaring with happiness and rejoicing: Hieroglyph for 'rejoice' "The positive and joyful side of the Egyptian personality is perhaps seen in the fact that the Egyptian language contained over ninety words for happiness, rejoicing, and exultation."(_Reading Egyptian Art_, Richard Wilkinson, page 27) This ancient figure has gained new life, here in a small bronze statue by JBL statues