Ushabti for Neferibresaneith (Beauty)

The ushabti (funerary figurine) takes the form of a shrouded mummiform figure standing on a rectangular base. He wears a tripartite, lappet wig and has a plaited false beard on his fleshy chin. The figure is supported by a rectangular back pillar. In his crossed arms, he holds a hoe and a pick, with a seed bag held by a cord slung over his left shoulder. These agricultural implements reference the ushabti’s function: to perform labor (particularly of an agricultural nature) on behalf of the deceased in the afterlife. The hieroglyphic inscription incised on the ushabti’s lower body in nine horizontal lines further elucidates his role. It is Chapter Six of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which provides a spell that will animate the ushabti in the next world:

“Sacred words (to) illumine the Osiris, Nefer-ib-re-sa-Neith, born of Shep-en-
     Bastet, justified
He says, “Oh these ushabtis of the Osiris, Nefer-ib-re-sa-Neith
Born of Shep-en-Bastet, justified, if there is any (construction) work to be done
     there in the Divine Hereafter,
Or (if there is) an obstacle there, you should say as a man in his duty, ‘Look!
I am here!’ If you are counted off
at any time there in the Divine Hereafter,
to work to cultivate the fields and irrigate the [river]banks,
in order to transport the sands of the west to the east
and vice versa, ‘Look, I am here!’ you shall call.”

A group of 336 ushabtis, including this one, were discovered in the tomb of the 26th Dynasty Egyptian official Neferibresaneith at Saqqara in 1929. Neferibresaneith was the son of a woman named Shepenbastet and he held the titles of wab-priest, Royal Chancellor of Lower Egypt, and Administrator of the Palace during the reign of Pharaoh Ahmose [Amasis] II (ca. 570-526 BC). This ushabti is made from faience, a quartz-based glazed ceramic with which the ancient Egyptians were highly adept at working. It was likely formed by first pressing a frit mixture (crushed sand or quartz) into a mold, which was then heated to fuse the mixture together. After being removed from the mold and allowed to harden somewhat, the fine details – including the individual hieroglyphs and the delicate facial features – of the ushabti were refined by hand carving before final firing.

Explore this ushabti in The Getty Book of the Dead on Google Arts & Culture