Shabti of Tjebure

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This finely carved stone shabti, made for a man named Tjebure, depicts the owner's body wrapped like a mummy but with the hands visible resting open on the thighs. An image of Tjebure's spirit - or ba - in the form of a human-headed bird, spreads its wings over his chest just below an ornamental collar. Representations of the ba-bird joining with the mummy are frequently included in the Book of the Dead, a collection of spells intended to help the deceased on the journey through the underworld. Another example of this imagery can be seen on a Late Period coffin belonging to Ankhshepenwepet. Lines of text wrapping around the front and sides of the shabti record an inscription to ensure that the shabti will respond if Tjebure is required to work in the afterlife.

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