Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, 22nd Dynasty (Bubastite Dynasty), ca. 945 to 720 BCE. A well-made shabti (ushabti) found in Abydos, with an inscription reading: "The Osiris , the priest of Amen, Nesa-ankhef-en-Maat , justified", and painted all over with a teal and blue faience. The inscription is written on the body in black ink. Comes with custom stand. Size: 1.95" W x 5.75" H (5 cm x 14.6 cm)

Shabti were placed in tombs as grave goods, created to do manual labor for the deceased in the afterlife. As a result, they are frequently depicted with arms crossed, holding hoes and baskets. Towards the end of the Pharaonic period, they had become so necessary and elaborate that some tombs contained one worker for every day of the year and thirty-six overseers, each responsible for ten laborers. Workers like this one are from that period of enormous proliferation, and are some of our best surviving insights into ancient Egyptian funerary practices. Many, like this one, are inscribed with pleas to Osiris.

Other examples are found in museums in Bolton (A.75.1967. 1967 & A.22 1968), Oxford (1971.1419), and Pittsburgh (CMNH 1662-7); one example is published in Glenn James, Shabtis a private view (Paris, 2002) P. 95-96 fig. 48a and 48 b

Provenance: ex-A. Smith & A. Savage, Taxidermy, Antiques & Fine Objects. Before that English collection, formed before 1980

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#119784

Surface wear and pitting as shown; a chip on the nose has been restored but it is very difficult to tell.