Egypt, Late Dynastic Period, 26th to 31st Dynasty, ca. 664 to 332 BCE. A fine mold-made glazed white faience ushabti standing in mummiform atop an integral rectangular plinth. The figure has lengthy legs and a narrow torso with crossed hands holding the symbolic pick and hoe to sew the sacred fields of Osiris in the afterlife. The finely-modeled head is adorned with a tripartite wig and a plaited false beard, with nine horizontal bands of hieroglyphic text across the front of the legs giving blessings and protective invocations to the deceased. Custom lucite display stand included. Size: 1.375" W x 5.4" H (3.5 cm x 13.7 cm); 6.1" H (15.5 cm) on included custom stand.

Ushabti 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. By the Third Intermediate period and on into the Late Dynastic period, this practice 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.

Provenance: private east coast of Florida, USA collection

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#134930

Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age, minor areas of darkened brown coloration due to age and environmental conditions, fading to some finer features and hieroglyphs, otherwise intact and very good. Light earthen deposits throughout.