Object Description
An Egyptian, green-glazed, faience shabti with hieroglyphic inscriptions. The figure wears a tripartite-wig with horizontal bands across the lower ends of the lappets. The face is modelled in relief with the facial features (eyebrows, nose and mouth) painted in black. The hands are rather abstractly painted but are placed in the standard pose of being crossed right over left above the waist, holding a pair of hoes. A column of hieroglyphs is written in black pigment to the front of the shabti. The first two lines consist of 3 hieroglyphic signs; the eye, the throne and a seated god. Together they form the word “ Wsỉr”, referring to the god Osiris. In this case, the deceased is referred to as “the Osiris”. The subsequent signs are less clear but most likely depict the following: the basket with handle sign “k”, the vulture “ꜣ”, the double reeds sign “y” and the seated man sign “ỉ”. If so the name would read as “Kay (kꜣy)”. The seated man sign when used in names usually functions as a determinative, to indicate the individual is male and is not pronounced. According to convention, these hieroglyphs should refer to the title or name of the deceased. The back is decorated with a seed-basket and a yoke with two pendular nw-pots. This is to symbolise the work shabtis are expected to carry out for his owner (the deceased) in the afterlife. The addition of the pendular pots was especially favoured from the end of the 18th Dynasty to the beginning of the 20th Dynasty.
Date: Circa 1350-1150 BC
Period: New Kingdom