Ushabti Figure

Date-500

Place of ManufactureAfrica

MediumMaterial: faience; green glaze

DimensionsOverall (measurements do not include base): 17.3 x 4.8 x 4.4 cm

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ART

Credit LineGift of Lt Colonel A.C. Alan Williams

Object number1960.046.001

DescriptionEach one of these countless statuettes called ushabtis epitomises the whole of ancient Egypt: blessed magical by virtue of its shape as a divine mummy and rural and mundane by virtue of the two hoes which it clutches and the basket which hangs on its back.

Ushabtis are often inscribed with Chapter VI of the Book of the Dead which explains their purpose: "O this Ushabti _. If so-and-so is required for corvee duties in the Hereafter, say thou: I am here". In Egypt, when ushabtis first appeared, each deceased person had only one in his tomb. Later, these figures were stacked in boxes in the hundreds and they were no longer regarded as substitutes for the person but as slaves. Most of these were crude terracotta figures daubed with colour

Status

Not on view