<em>Head from a Shabty of King Akhenaten</em>, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E. Quartzite, 3 3/8 x 3 11/16 x 2 7/8 in. (8.6 x 9.3 x 7.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 35.1867. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 35.1867_PS2.jpg)

Head from a Shabty of King Akhenaten, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E. Quartzite, 3 3/8 x 3 11/16 x 2 7/8 in. (8.6 x 9.3 x 7.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 35.1867. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 35.1867_PS2.jpg)

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Head from a Shabty of King Akhenaten

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Amarna Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

The four stone shabties made for King Akhenaten illustrate the royal ideal in the Eighteenth Dynasty. They are a representative sample of the materials used to create hundreds of shabties for this king. Each stone type symbolizes a divinity related to the afterlife. For example, the red shabty associates Akhenaten with Re, the sun god, while the black granite one links him to Osiris, represented as the fertile soil of Egypt.

MEDIUM Quartzite

Place Made: Tell el-Amarna, Egypt

DATES ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E.

DYNASTY Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom, Amarna Period

DIMENSIONS 3 3/8 x 3 11/16 x 2 7/8 in. (8.6 x 9.3 x 7.3 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 35.1867

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

PROVENANCE Tell el Amarna, Egypt; before 1935, acquired by Maurice Nahman of Cairo, Egypt; 1935, purchased from Maurice Nahman by Jean Capart for the Brooklyn Museum.

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CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Pink granite head of ushabti of Akhenaten. Slight remnant of color on lips and in minor crevices. Condition: Large slice missing from crown of head; nose chipped; beard almost completely missing; broken from body at neck.

EXHIBITIONS

To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Amarna Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Head from a Shabty of King Akhenaten, ca. 1352–1336 B.C.E. Quartzite, 3 3/8 x 3 11/16 x 2 7/8 in. (8.6 x 9.3 x 7.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 35.1867. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 35.1867_PS2.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 35.1867_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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