AN EGYPTIAN WOOD SHABTI FOR THE PHARAOH SETY I

NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XIX, REIGN OF SETY I, 1306-1290 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN WOOD SHABTI FOR THE PHARAOH SETY I
NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XIX, REIGN OF SETY I, 1306-1290 B.C.
Depicted mummiform with idealized features, wearing an undecorated tripartite wig, the arms crossed at the wrists, inscribed below with five rows of hieroglyphs, with a version of Spell VI from the Book of the Dead, invoking this shabti to serve as a surrogate for the Pharaoh if he was called upon to labor in the hereafter
7 3/8 in. (18.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 26 November 1980, lot 222.

Literature

G.D. Scott, III, Exhibition catalogue, Temple, Tomb and Dwelling: Egyptian Antiquities from the Harer Family Trust Collection, San Bernardino, 1992, no. 58A, pp. 100-101.

Exhibited

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, periodically 1986-1991.
San Bernardino, University Art Gallery, California State University and elsewhere, Temple, Tomb and Dwelling: Egyptian Antiquities from the Harer Family Trust Collection, 8 January-30 December 1992.
San Antonio Museum of Art, Mummies: The Egyptian Art of Death, 20 July 1993-1 October 1995.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Ancestors: Art and the Afterlife, 25 October 1998-25 June 1999.

Lot Essay

The tomb of Sety I was excavated by Giovanni Battista Belzoni in the early 19th century. Many shabtis from the tomb are now in museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The British Museum. For similar examples see pp. 79-81, pls. 12-13 in Aubert and Aubert, Statuettes Égyptiennes: Chouabtis, Ouchebtis.

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