Description: Medium green faience mummiform shabti figure with striped lappet wig and plaited beard, hands on chest holding pick and hoe, basket thrown over right shoulder; feet on square base, dorsal pillar. The shabti is inscribed with the name of the Overseer of the Treasurery, Ptahhotep, born of Horenpetesnakht (Ranke 141.5) followed by the shabti spell (text A; chapter 6 of the ‘Book of the Dead’); the text is written in hieroglyphs.
Collector's Marks: Paper label on front base with Egypt written in dark ink, paper label on bottom base with number 30 in black, on side number 2030 written in black ink.
Cultural Significance: Shabtis of the late period are mould made with detailed modelling including the hieroglyphs in the text. They often take the form of mummies standing with a back pillar, carrying agricultural tools and wearing the beard of Osiris. During this period the group of shabtis in one tomb might contain a range of sizes and types of shabti some large with long full inscriptions and some small with short inscriptions.
Comparanda: Ashmolean Oxford 1974.368; Royal Ontario Museum 2008.99.23

Inscriptions / Translations:  A: Shabti spell: (1) The illuminated one, the Osiris, the overseer of the treasury [P]tahhotep, justified, born of Horenpetesnakht, he says: (2) O shabti which has been allotted, if one summons the Osiris, the overseer of the treasury, [Pta]hhotep, (3) justified, son of Horenpetesnakht, in order to do any work which is done in the (4) netherworld; indeed, (if) an obstacle is implanted there as a man at (5) his duties, 'Here I am', you shall say. If you are summoned (6) at any time to act there in order to (7) cultivate the fields, in order to flood the riverbank, to transport (8) sand (from) west to east (9) [or vice versa, 'He]re I am', you shall say.

Notes:  The overseer of the Treasury Ptahhotep born of Horenpetesnakht is attested by a stele, a statue, and a coffin lid. The coffin lid is from Cambell's Tomb at Giza LG84 providing a likely provenance for the shabti. The stele indicates that Ptahhotep served under the Persian ruler Darius I. See Porter & Moss III(2): 290; J. Malek, The Ushebti-figure of Ptahhotep, JEA 62 (1976):150-151; M. Wasmuth Persika in der Reprasentation der agyptischen Elite, JEA 103 (2017): 242; Asmolean Oxford 1947.295; Louvre IM 1244; Brooklyn Museum 37.353.
H. D. Schneider, ‘Shabtis. An introduction to the History of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Statuettes with a Catalogue of the Collection of Shabtis in the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden’, 3 vols., Leiden 1977. Schneider classification XIA2/W38/H28/I8/B20/T3b

A downloadable 3D Model is available here.

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