<em>Shabti of Setau</em>, ca. 1352-1322 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 11 1/8 x 3 3/8 in. (28.2 x 8.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.26.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.48.26.2_wwgA-3.jpg)

Shabti of Setau, ca. 1352-1322 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 11 1/8 x 3 3/8 in. (28.2 x 8.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.26.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.48.26.2_wwgA-3.jpg)

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Why are their hands around their chest?

This pose indicates that they represent the dead and served to identify them with the god Osiris, the king of the afterlife. The is referred to by Egyptologists as mummiform--mummy shaped--or, especially in the case of a king, Osiride--Osiris-like.

Shabties like these would be placed in the tomb. They're essentially servants to the deceased, who would perform tasks like farming for them in the afterlife.

Tell me more.

These figurines were inscribed to the person they were buried with and were thought to come to life in order to help with chores, especially agricultural tasks.

They came in a wide range of qualities, from customized and individualized (the most expensive) to mold made and mass produced.

Do you know why their hands are crossed like this?

The hand positions of shabties mimic those of ancient Egyptian mummies and mummiform coffins. These small statuettes were meant to follow their owner into the afterlife and act as servants. You'll notice that they even carry hoes and other agricultural tools to perform their duties like the way a king by be shown carrying a crook and flail, symbols of his office.

Shabti of Setau

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

The Egyptians manufactured funerary figurines, originally called shabties, as early as Dynasty 12 (1932–1759 B.C.E.). The earliest shabties are inscribed with either the deceased’s name (see nos. 1 and 2) or a simple form of Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. The rarity and high quality of the early shabties suggest that they were costly items produced for privileged persons.

Later, Chapter 6 began appearing more frequently on funerary figurines. The text mentions that they do agricultural tasks for the dead person: irrigating the fields, cultivating crops, and clearing away sand that blew in from the nearby desert.

As substitutes for the deceased, these figurines were sometimes given their own sarcophagi (see no. 6). To emphasize the agricultural function of the figurines, hoes and grain baskets were added to them (no. 8).

Wood (nos. 9–11), stone (nos. 12–14, 16), faience (no. 17), metal, and other materials were used beginning in Dynasty 18. By the end of the New Kingdom, statuettes for a single person were often mold-made by the hundreds and even thousands. Faience became the medium of choice, first in blue and later in light green or light blue (nos. 17, 20, 21).

MEDIUM Wood, pigment

Place Found: Thebes (Deir el-Medina), Egypt

DATES ca. 1352-1322 B.C.E.

DYNASTY late Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 11 1/8 x 3 3/8 in. (28.2 x 8.5 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 48.26.2

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Shabti of Setau, ca. 1352-1322 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 11 1/8 x 3 3/8 in. (28.2 x 8.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.26.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.48.26.2_wwgA-3.jpg)

IMAGE installation, West Wing gallery A-3 installation, CUR.48.26.2_wwgA-3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2005

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

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