Funerary Figurine

Creator

Preview

Creation Date

Unknown, assumed 2040–30 BCE

Geography

Egypt

Culture

Egyptian

Medium

Faience

Dimensions

2 5/16 × 11/16 × 2/5 in. (5.9 × 1.7 × 0.8 cm)

0.26 oz. (7.4 g)

Credit Line

Bequest of David P. Harris ('46), 2020

Accession Number

2020.237

Provenance

Acquired by David P. Harris before 2019, date and location unknown. It is likely that Harris purchased this object from Julia Schottlander (Tetragon) in London.

Description

Shabtis (or shawabti, ushabti) are small carved or molded human figures from Ancient Egypt. The word from the New Kingdom “shebti” means to replace, and “ushebti” means answerer (Milde 2012). Shabtis are meant to conduct a deceased person’s labor in the afterlife, where the gods demand agriculture and irrigation-based work (Pinch 1994: 157–8). These figures appeared as early as the 21st century BCE and remained prevalent into the Ptolemaic Period (323–30 BCE), although their materials and associations changed over time (Pinch 1994: 97-98). The earliest shabtis were made from wax, mud, or dough and over time began to be made from wood, stone, or clay. (Milde 2012). Later shabtis were covered in a ceramic glaze called faience, its color ranging from blue to green. Faience is a ceramic glaze made from silica and alkaline salts, its bright blue color is iconic in Ancient Egypt (Riccardelli 2017). Faience pieces contain two parts, an inner core and an outer glaze (Riccardelli 2017). In the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BCE), shabtis were made from wood, stone, or faience (Smith 1960: 126). Those made of stone were reserved for the wealthy and noble, while materials like wood or faience were generally cheap and produced more widely (Smith 1960: 126).

These shabtis were believed to conduct labor within the Field of Reeds or Field of Turquoise, an idealized version of the Egyptian countryside that aimed to resume human activities (Pinch 1994: 157–8). While the pharaoh required agricultural labor on earth, the gods demanded the same in the afterlife (Pinch 1994: 157–8). Upon a person’s death, a “shabti spell” was required to spare the individual from their labor-related responsibilities, substituting the deceased for the shabti (Pinch 1994: 157–8).

Shabtis depicted small figures holding agricultural tools, a head with a wig protruding, and an inarticulate body (Quirke 2001). High numbers of shabtis were deposited in each grave during the New Kingdom, some placed within their own box or small sarcophagi made of wood, plaster, or stone (Howley, 2020).

Shabtis represent several perspectives and aspects of Egyptian culture, whether through cultural burial practices, religious beliefs, or economic status. Both poor and rich individuals were buried with some form of shabti, varying in size, number, and material. However, their cultural, ritual, and religious significance remain the same.

Our shabti is made of teal or green faience. The core is porous and is commonly made from angular quartz grains held together by a small amount of soda-lime-silicate glass (Riccardelli 2017). It is unclear whether it was done in the traditional and distinctive blue faience and eroded down into a green color, or if it had originally been done in green, as both colors were common during this period.

Our shabti, measuring just 5.9 cm, is represented with two crossed arms, a wig, and maintains an inarticulate body. At one point, agricultural tools may have been carved or painted onto the figure, however, it has been worn away over time. Comparing it to several shabtis from both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The British Museum, we can see that it is most similar to the faience shabtis from the Third Intermediate Period (1069–644 BCE) made from blue faience and measuring 4–7 cm. This Faience Ushabti (74.51.4495) at the Met, dated to 1090–900 BCE, appears to be the closest comparison, maintaining a similar surface texture and color, with a comparable height of 7.3 cm. However, I have found several shabtis from the fifth through the third centuries BCE that feature similar shapes, sizes, and colors.

Upon examining the shabti, I questioned whether it was an overseer type. These “overseers” would be placed within a tomb alongside several standard shabtis. The role of these overseers was to maintain control and direct the shabtis during their labor. They are recognizable by the one arm placed over the chest, and the other extended outward holding a whip to demonstrate their authority (Milde 2012). Generally, one overseer would be placed within a tomb for every 10–20 shabtis (Milde 2012). It is clear that our shabti would not have been an overseer. After examining the left side of the body — what I previously thought may be a break — I realized that the faience still remained on the worn surface where the break would have occurred. Since faience glaze would have been applied after the stone carving of the shabti, a break would have to be indicated by an absence of faience color.

Due to the condition and nature of our shabti in the Blick-Harris Study Collection, it is difficult to determine what its origin and significance would have been to the person who owned it. While we may be able to identify some key characteristics based on its material and shape, it is hard to pick out key defining characteristics. Without key information such as its provenance and findspot, these details become obscure. Artifacts such as these emphasize the importance of archaeological work and preventing the removal and exchange of looted/unprovenanced materials.

Some comparable faience shabtis:

Faience Ushebti, Third Intermediate Period, 1090–900 BCE. Materials, 7.3 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 74.51.4495

Overseer Shabti of Nauny, Third Intermediate Period, 1050 BCE, 9.5 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 30.3.26.2

Shabti-box, Third Intermediate Period, 1069-664 BCE. The British Museum, EA8525

Shabti, 30th Dynasty, 380-343 BCE, 5.25 cm. The British Museum, EA21754

Shabti, 30th Dynasty, 380-343 BCE, 4.29 cm. The British Museum, EA21744

Sources Consulted

Howley, Kathryn E. 2020. “The materiality of shabtis: Figurines over four millennia.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 30, no. 1: 123–140.

Milde, Henk. 2012. “Shabtis.” UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, edited by Willeke Wendrich. Los Angeles: University of California Los Angeles. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6cx744kk

Pinch, Geraldine. 1994. Magic in Ancient Egypt. London: British Museum Press.

Smith, William S. 1960. Ancient Egypt. Boston, T.O. Metcalf Co., 1960.

Quirke, Stephen. 2001. “Shabtis.” Digital Egypt for Universities. University College London. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/burialcustoms/shabtis.html

Riccardelli, Carolyn. 2017. “Egyptian Faience: Technology and Production.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/egfc/hd_egfc.htm

Lana Stone '26 (Fall 2024)

__________

In the Egyptian language, which uses Hieroglyphs as its script (but is not a language by itself), “Wšb” means to answer. According to James Hoch’s Middle Egyptian Grammar, “wšb.tjj” is the one who answers. In Egyptian, the “w” is pronounced like “u”, “š” as “sh”, and “jj” as “i”. Thus, this is how we get “Ushabti” as the “who who answers”. This title refers to answering for the deceased as they transition from human into Ka (their soul-spirit embodiment) and go through the Duat, the underworld where they face judgement in order to ascend into the afterlife, or the Field of Reeds. In the Duat, judgement takes the form of many tests and procedures. These procedures include the famous “judgement scene” of Anubis (cf. British Museum, no. EA10470,3) weighing the heart (“ib” in Egyptian) against a feather and the Judgement of the 42 judges. Because these tests were predictable, but hard to pass, spells were designed to increase the likelihood of the deceased passing into the afterlife. These spells became compiled into a corpus called the Book of the Dead. They were inscribed on a variety of objects and in different combinations, depending on the physical space available and wealth of the deceased. The most common place for a Book of the Dead spell to be written, besides a scarab placed on the heart, was a ushabti placed by the feet of the deceased. As the physical body could not speak for itself, the inscribed ushabti answered the judgement questions and worked for the deceased soul, most commonly with Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead.

The idea that ushabtis “conduct a deceased person's labor” in the afterlife — as mentioned in the description above — is a well accepted fact in the field of Egyptology. Less research has explored the labor expectations of non-inscribed funerary figurines, such as this one, which are not technically ushabtis. The afterlife, called the Field of Reeds, is the idyllic afterlife where farming continues. The Egyptians did not necessarily need a proxy to conduct their labor in the Field of Reeds, rather labor there was the ultimate goal. The Field of Reeds embodies the great desires of the Egyptians — to farm in peace, around family, without drought, strife, or pain. To farm was to serve the gods and a greater purpose, and it was seen as an honor, not labor that must be conducted by an outside force. Rather, the labor conducted by ushabtis was to lead the soul towards the afterlife, where Ra would fly alongside each soul into the sky and beyond, into the Field of Reeds. This labor takes the form of answering for the deceased in the journey to the Field of Reeds. This was done by outsmarting the gods, answering riddles, and retaining a soul so light it could be balanced with a feather.

I will also mention that not both “rich and poor” were buried with a ushabti. While ushabtis were usually interred with the wealthy, uninscribed figurines that otherwise looked like ushabtis were typically buried with the poor. Poor Egyptians were illiterate, and could not afford to pay a scribe to detail their figurine with the necessary spells from the Book of the Dead. So, two forms of figurines appeared: the inscribed ushabti, and the laboring funerary figurine. These uninscribed figurines acted as a stand-in for the deceased and their expected labor in the afterlife. The difference here is the inscription that defines a “ushabti” versus a labor stand-in “figurine”.

My final thought is the overly conclusive timeframe categorization of this object based on available comparanda. This figurine’s provenance is mostly unknown, and it lacks archaeological context. Even though similar objects come from the Third Intermediate period, this does not mean we should associate our object to that era. Finding comparanda is difficult, as museums prefer to have high-quality artifacts with legible inscriptions rather than small figurines mass-produced in the Middle and Late Kingdoms. Ushabtis were in production and use from the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181–2055 BCE) until the twenty-first dynasty (c. 1077–943). The Third intermediate Period was from 1070–644 BCE. I believe we have a faience funerary figurine, not a proper Third Intermediate Period ushabti, and should label and treat it as such.

Ellie Westfall (’27) for Summer Scholars 2025