Harvard Art Museums > 1919.612: Ushabti belonging to Amunniutnakht Sculpture Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Ushabti belonging to Amunniutnakht , 1919.612,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 25, 2025, https://hvrd.art/o/292511. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1919.612 Title Ushabti belonging to Amunniutnakht Classification Sculpture Work Type statuette, sculpture Date 11th-10th century BCE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Egypt (Ancient) Period Third Intermediate Period Culture Egyptian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/292511 Physical Descriptions Medium Clay with paint Technique Mold-made Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mr. & Mrs. William de Forest Thomson Accession Year 1919 Object Number 1919.612 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Commentary This ushabti belonged to an ancient Egyptian man named Amunniutnakht. It is inscribed with his name. This is one of four ushabtis belonging to Amunniutnakht in the care of the Harvard Art Museums: see also 1919.609, 1919.610, and 1919.613. Amunniutnakht was buried in the group tomb known as Bab el-Gasus, “Gate of the Priests,” in Luxor (ancient Thebes), along with about 150 other members of the ancient Egyptian priesthood. Ushabtis are ancient Egyptian funerary figurines that were buried with a deceased person (the owner) and designed to perform tasks for them in the afterlife. They were usually inscribed with the owner’s name. They were believed to be “activated” when the deceased owner recited a portion of the Book of the Dead that explained the ushabti’s duties, which is sometimes inscribed on them (see 2019.354 for an example of this text). In such inscriptions, the deceased person is referred to as the “illuminated Osiris”—a gesture toward the hope that they would be resurrected like the god Osiris and everlasting like the sun. Ushabtis were almost always made in sets so that there would be many figurines to serve the deceased person. A full set comprised 401 ushabtis: one “worker” ushabti for every day of the year, plus one “overseer” ushabti for every ten, to make sure the rest were doing their jobs. You might sometimes see the word ushabti spelled as “shawabty” or “shabti”; these are the same type of object. Related Objects Object Number 1919.613 Title Ushabti belonging to Amunniutnakht Classification Sculpture Object Number 1919.609 Title Ushabti belonging to Amunniutnakht Classification Sculpture Object Number 1919.610 Title Ushabti belonging to Amunniutnakht Classification Sculpture Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
