Shabties were made from stone, wood, faience, and (rarely) metal depending on the tomb owner’s priorities. Amunemhat had a smaller number of very fine shabties, including the painted stone example shown here and a wooden example exhibited nearby. The uninscribed shabty also shown here is one of up to 360 examples—one for each day of the Egyptian year—molded in faience, an inexpensive ceramic material made from sand.
Shabties magically performed agricultural work required of the deceased in the afterlife.
This text refers to these objects:
50.128; 37.189E
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Painted limestone ushabti of the Watcher of Amon, the scribe Amenmhet. Conventional mummiform type with each hand grasping hoe and basket. Striped lappet wig and large necklace. Eight lines of inscription around body with single short column at base. Details painted yellow, blue, green and red.
Condition: Intact. White paint worn from front surface.
CAPTIONShabty of Amunemhat, ca. 1400–1336 B.C.E. Limestone, pigment, 9 3/4 × 3 5/8 × 2 1/2 in. (24.8 × 9.2 × 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 50.128. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.128_front_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE
front, 50.128_front_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
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