Seated pair statue

The small seated pair statue of Bau and Baru bears the following inscriptions on either side of the couple's legs: "The Tenant Farmer, Bau," and "The Priestess of Neith, Opener-of-the-ways, and Tenant Farmer, Baru." Neith was a goddess associated with the northern town of Sais in the Nile Delta. Statues of the deceased and his family were frequently placed in a sealed room called a serdab, often connected to the offering chapel by a slit in the wall. Egyptians believed the ka, or spirit of the deceased, could enter a statue in the serdab and peer out of the slit. Food for the ka was placed on an offering table near the serdab. These three small statues and offering table were found in a serdab at Giza. The large standing pair statue from another tomb (see 06.1876) is similar to the one originally found with this group, and is now on display in the Cairo Museum.