Description:

Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom to Third Intermediate Period, ca. 1550 to 712 BCE. A rare cast bronze ushabti with a line of hieroglyphs down its lower legs and the classic mummiform head and body of these figures, made to be servants to Osiris. During the New Kingdom, creators of these iconic figures experimented with a wide variety of materials: stone, wood, alabaster, terracotta, ebony, glass, and, like this example, bronze. Size: 0.85" W x 3" H (2.2 cm x 7.6 cm); 3.85" H (9.8 cm) on included custom stand.

Ushabti were placed in tombs as grave goods, created to do manual labor for the deceased in the afterlife. As a result, they are frequently depicted with arms crossed, holding hoes and baskets. Towards the end of the Pharaonic period, they had become so necessary and elaborate that some tombs contained one worker for every day of the year and thirty-six overseers, each responsible for ten laborers. Workers like this one are are some of our best surviving insights into ancient Egyptian funerary practices. Many are inscribed with pleas to Osiris, as this one may have been.

Provenance: private Littleton, Colorado USA collection

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#131617

  • Condition: Dark green patina on surface. Surface details have been smoothed by time, but are still visible.

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March 15, 2018 7:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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