Shabti of Wahneferhotep

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This shabti wears a modified nemes, a type of head covering worn by the king, and bears a spell enabing the owner to avoid the burden of labor in the afterlife. It was covered with gold leaf except for the wig, which was covered with stucco painted blue. It was found wrapped in linen bandages, laid on its left side inside a miniature coffin (14.3.69a, b that was inscribed with funerary spells as if it were a full-size coffin. Such objects were usually placed in tombs, but this set was found near the pyramid of Senwosret I, likely as a kind of votive offering. See also Shabti and Coffin of Wahneferhotep

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