Third Intermediate Period shabti. Faience, blue/brown. The figure carries implements in order to work in the afterlife. Hieroglyphs down front in black. Seedback in black on back. Eyes and headband in brown/black. 91mm high. This item is very worn so the hieroglyphs cannot be read. Its style suggests a Third Intermediate Period date. Gift from University of Wales Aberystwyth. Shabtis were put in tombs to do work for their owners in the afterlife. Occasionally also they were placed posthumously in temples and other sacred places so that the owner could take part in the festivals. (But see Poole, F. Slave or Double? A reconsideration of the conception of the shabti in the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period. In C.J. Eyre 1998. 'Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists. Cambridge 3-9th September 1995'. Leuven : Peeters, 893-901).
