Shabti of Sennedjem

Shabti of Sennedjem

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This shabti is inscribed for the "Servant in the Place of Truth" Sennedjem. Shabtis were intended to substitute for the deceased owner if his spirit was asked to perform manual labor in the afterlife. To this end, these small funerary figurines often clutch a hoe and a pick and have one or two baskets hanging over their shoulders on the back. They are also usually inscribed with a version of Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. This spell exhorts the shabti to work in place of the deceased. Other objects in the collection that were discovered in Sennedjem's tomb can be viewed here.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shabti of SennedjemShabti of SennedjemShabti of SennedjemShabti of SennedjemShabti of Sennedjem

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.