Shabti of Siptah

Shabti of Siptah

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Siptah, the last king of Dynasty 19, appears to have ruled along with the dowager queen Tawosret, who succeeded him briefly after his premature death. He left few monuments except his tomb and unfinished mortuary temple. This alabaster shabti of the king was found in his tomb by the American excavator Theodore Davis. Shabti figures were placed in burials. They were usually inscribed with spells that allowed them to substitute for the deceased in performing manual labor in the afterlife.


Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.