Faience Ushabti for Horwedja (RAFFMA Artifact)

3D Model

RAFFMA, EG.02.008.2003 Late Period, Dynasty 30 (ca. 380-332 BCE) Faience 22.8 cm (tall) / 6 cm (width) / 4.3 cm (thick) Hawara. Collection Harer, Gift in 2003

This is an example of an Ancient Egyptian magical funerary statue, called a ushabti or “answerer.” Their purpose was to answer a call their owner might receive to perform tax labor in the afterlife. This ushabti is one of 399 that the archaeologist W. M. Flinders Petrie excavated in the tomb of an Ancient Egyptian prophet of the goddess Neith named Horwedja at the archaeological site of Hawara in 1889. It is an excellent example of a Late Period ushabti, which is made in the shape of a wrapped mummy holding the tools imaged for his afterlife labor: a pickax and bag. The inscribed text is a variant of Hans Schneider’s Type VIIA of the “Shabti Formula” commonly found on ushabtis of the time. This text magically empowered Horwedja to use the ushabti to get out of his work in the afterlife.

https://www.csusb.edu/raffma/art/detail?objectId=1386134&size=0