Shabti of Senebimi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Funerary figures known as shabtis first appeared during the early Middle Kingdom. When the deceased was called upon to carry out obligatory labor in the next world, these magical images were supposed to act in his or her place. Their traditional form is that of a wrapped mummy, initially represented as seen here, without defined arms or hands. The gessoed body of this early specimen is inscribed with a simple offering formula and the owner’s name.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art