Funeral figurine (shawabti)

This funerary figure is a standard item of burial equipment intended to serve as a substitute labourer for the deceased in the Netherworld. It is inscribed in ten lines with the standard shawabti text (chapter VI of the Book of the Dead). The owner is named in the inscription as Neferibresaneith, born of Shep(et)enbastet. The figure is shown wearing the ‘archaic’ wig with striated lappets, and a long plaited beard. The right arm is crossed over the left beneath the Osiriform wrappings. The right hand holds a hoe, the left a mattock. A basket is suspended on a cord over the left shoulder. The figure stands on a base and has a back pillar beginning immediately below the wig. The condition is excellent apart from some minor chipping. There is a hairline crack across the ninth line of the text.

For another shawabti from the same set, see Chappaz (1984: no. 139), where other examples are cited, and where reference is given to the tomb of the owner.