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Shabti of Horu

A work made of faience.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of faience.

Date:

Late Period, Dynasty 26 (664-525 BCE)

Artist:

Egyptian

About this artwork

To assure themselves a comfortable afterlife, Egyptians stocked their tombs with at least one figurine called an ushabti, who acted as a servant in the afterlife. The message carved on each of the figurines explained that if the deceased is called on to do any work in the afterlife, the ushabti will respond with “Here I am” and will do the job. Some tombs had as many as one ushabti for every day of the year and another 36 overseers to keep order. All but the poorest citizens provided themselves with some kind of funerary furnishings. Products for burial and the labor to produce them made up a large industry in Egypt.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of Africa

Culture

Ancient Egyptian

Title

Shabti of Horu

Place

Egypt (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

664 BCE–525 BCE

Medium

Faience

Inscriptions

"Instruction of Osiris the seal-bearer of the King of Lower Egypt, Horu, born of Isenmehit, deceased."

Dimensions

13 × 3.9 × 3 cm (5 1/8 × 1 1/2 × 1 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of William T. Baker

Reference Number

1891.50.1

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/120295/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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