Harvard Art Museums > 1919.568: Ushabti belonging to Isis (?) 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 Isis (?) , 1919.568,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Jul 08, 2025, https://hvrd.art/o/292828. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1919.568 Title Ushabti belonging to Isis (?) Other Titles Former Title: Ushabti Classification Sculpture Work Type statuette, sculpture Date 13th-12th century BCE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Egypt (Ancient) Period New Kingdom, Dynasty 19 Culture Egyptian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/292828 Physical Descriptions Medium Clay with paint Technique Handmade 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 1919.568 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 person who may have been named Isis. The inscription is unclear. 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. 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
