Ancient ushabtis from Egypt, probably New Kingdom, ca. 1550 to 1070 BCE. This is a shabti doll with faience coating and incised hieroglyphics. Shabti (or ushabti) dolls are figures shaped like adult male or female mummies wearing the traditional ancient Egyptian headdresses. The term shabti applies to these figures prior to the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt but after the end of the First Intermediate Period, and really only to those figurines inscribed with Chapter Six of the Book of the Dead. Otherwise, they might better be defined by the generic term, funerary figurines. The ancient Egyptians believed that after they died, their spirits would have to work in the ÒField of ReedsÓ owned by the god of the underworld, Osiris. This meant doing agricultural labor Ñ and it was required by all members of society, from workers to pharaohs. The nobility and wealthy in Egyptian society were able to have shabtis made of faience; blue faience was meant to reflect the color of the river Nile both on earth and in the afterlife. The hieroglyphic inscriptions gave the shabti their power, telling Osiris that they were to do the work required of the noble person.