Trial piece with a birth scene

From Egypt
Graeco-Roman Period, 332 BC - AD 305

A woman giving birth while kneeling on two bricks

Small stone objects of this type are generally regarded as sculptor’s test pieces, but they may also have had a ritual significance, since many examples seem to have been donated to temples.

Here, a woman is shown giving birth. It was very important in ancient Egypt for married couples to have children, especially a son. This was not only to continue the family line, but to perform the rituals of burial and ensure that offerings were maintained for the spirits of his parents in the Afterlife. A woman having difficulty conceiving a child would appeal to the gods for help, leaving small offerings at a local shrine of Hathor. This goddess, often shown as a cow, or woman with the ears of a cow, was particularly associated with fertility and birth.