Skip Navigation

Shabty of Nesi-ta-nebet-Isheru, Daughter of Pinedjem II

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Shabties were included in tombs to perform agricultural work in place of the deceased in the afterlife. Many of them are inscribed with Chapter 6 of The Book of the Dead, which says they will dig irrigation ditches, cultivate crops, and carry sand. Others only bear the name and title of the owner. The earlier examples included here are inscribed in ink while in the later examples the text is part of the mold, which clearly saved labor. Shabties and scarabs, beetle-shaped amulets associated with rebirth and the sun god, are the most common Egyptian antiquities to survive to modern times.
MEDIUM Faience
DATES ca. 1075–945 B.C.E.
DYNASTY Dynasty 21
PERIOD Third Intermediate Period
DIMENSIONS 5 13/16 x 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (14.7 x 5.7 x 3.8 cm)  (show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER 16.183
CREDIT LINE Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Light blue faience Ushabti of Nesi-ta-neb-Ishru daughter of Pinezem II. Seven columns of painted inscription around lower part of body. Painted flail grasped in each hand. Condition: Feet slightly chipped. Glaze slightly worn in spots; otherwise good.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Shabty of Nesi-ta-nebet-Isheru, Daughter of Pinedjem II, ca. 1075–945 B.C.E. Faience, 5 13/16 x 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (14.7 x 5.7 x 3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.183. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 16.183_front_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE front, 16.183_front_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.