Shabti

Dynasty Dynasty 26 (Saite) (Ancient Egyptian, 664–525 BCE)

Period Late Period (Ancient Egyptian, 664–332 BCE)

Place of OriginEgypt, perhaps from Balabish necropolis (unverified)

Date26th Dynasty (664–525 BCE)

Dimensions6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm)

Mediumfaience

ClassificationSculpture

Credit LineGift of Professor Thomas Whittemore, of the Egypt Exploration Society

Object number

1915.116

Not on View

Label TextThis small blue-green figure is a shabti, a servant for the afterlife meant to carry out agricultural tasks on behalf of the deceased. Made of faience and inscribed in hieroglyphs, it dates to Egypt’s 26th Dynasty (664–525 BCE), a time when older religious practices were revived with new artistic vigor. While its precise tomb context is unknown, it may come from the cemetery at Balabish, where many similar objects were found in 1915. This shabti was donated to the Toledo Museum of Art by Thomas Whittemore, an American Egyptologist who helped organize the Balabish excavation.Published References

Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, pp. 54-55, repr. (col.) p. 55.

Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, Hands On Egypt, Gallery 3, Sept. 18, 1998-Aug. 31, 2000.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, October 29, 2010-January 8, 2012.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Mummies: From Egypt to Toledo, February 3- May 6, 2018.