Warhol recounts an encounter between himself, Sandro Chia, and Warhol’s Factory assistant Benjamin Liu that took place on Thursday, June 16, 1983—
“…Benjamin said he looked in Chia’s eyes and that they were “wild eyes.” And afterwards I said to Benjamin, “Well what do you mean?” I said, “Look into my eyes and what do you see?” And Benjamin said, “Troubled eyes.” I said, “Oh who do you think you are?”]]>
Shabtis were placed in the tomb to serve as surrogate for the king if he was called upon to do manual labor in the hereafter. The mummiform figurine is inscribed with the “shabit text” – Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead – and royal cartouches containing the king’s name, Sety, and his throne name or prenomen, Menmaatra.

The shabti was sold by Jean-Francois Mignon to Georges Ricard on 22 May 1978, who stated the shabti was “found by Belzoni in 1817.” Jean-Francois Mignon, bought and sold objects privately in Aix-en Provence and started his career under Roger F. Galliano, a member of the Conciliation Commission at Central Customs in Paris, certified expert of the Chamber of Auctioneers of France and Judicial Officer of Geneva. Georges Ricard also acquired several other wooden shabtis of Sety I, including one from the Belmore collection.

[See additional images below]]]> Senusret Collection: Usage and Reproduction Rights]]> Many parallels in Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden; London, British Museum; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Rome, Vatican Museum, among others.

Schneider, H. 1977. Shabtis, Part II (Leiden: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden), pp. 30-32.
Aubert, J.-F. & L. Aubert 1974. Statuettes Égyptiennes: Chouabtis, Ouchebtis (Paris: Maisonneuve), pp.79-81, pls.12-13.]]> 19.6 cm High x 5.8 cm x 4.1 cm]]>
It has been argued that depicting Native American leaders in the style of Pop Art trivialized their resistance to American expansion and the government’s appropriation of lands previously held by indigenous groups. While Warhol himself never made a definitive statement on Native American activism, his Cowboys and Indians series encourages the viewer to consider the dissonance created by pairing images of Native American leaders with celebrity heroes like John Wayne and Annie Oakley.]]>