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Shawabty of King Senkamanisken

Nubian
Napatan Period, reign of Senkamanisken
643–623 B.C.
Findspot: Nubia (Sudan), Nuri, Pyramid 3

Medium/Technique Faience
Dimensions Overall: 23.5 x 8.3 cm (9 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
Credit Line Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Accession Number21.15445
NOT ON VIEW

DescriptionThis is a shawabty belonging to King Senkamanisken. The figure wears the king's nemes headdress with double uraeus and has a plaited beard attached by an incised chin strap. Here the arms are crossed and the hands are directly opposite each other. The hands and fingers are detailed. In each hand the figure holds a narrow bladed hoe. In addition the left hand holds a cord to a seed bag which is slung over the left shoulder. The seed bag is roughly square with a tassel with a forked end hanging from the center of the bottom of the bag. There are six horizontal lines of incised, black painted hieroglyphs encircling the body. The text is framed and there is a narrow blank area up the center of the back. This mummiform shape does not have a back pillar or base. The object was broken in two pieces and is not mended. The front of the beard is missing. There is no cord to the seed bag on the front of the left shoulder. Green coloring is evident on the surface. The hands are chipped. Each shawabty has distinctive, individualized facial features. Contrary to what is believed of faience, these figures were not mold made but hand carved.

The tomb of king Senkamanisken contained three types of shawabty figures, small scale faience, large scale faience, and dark brown serpentinite.

The ancient Nubians included shawabtys in their tombs only in the Napatan Period, about 750–270 B.C. These funerary figurines are based on Egyptian shawabtys, but differ from them in many features of their iconography. For instance, the known Nubian examples are only from royal tombs. Also, they have unique texts, implements, poses and are known to have the largest number of shawabtys included in one tomb. Their function, it is assumed, was the same as that of the Egyptian shawabty, namely to magically animate in the Afterlife in order to act as a proxy for the deceased when called upon to tend to field labor or other tasks. This expressed purpose was sometimes written on the shawabty itself in the form of a "Shawabty Spell," of which versions of various lengths are known. Shorter shawabty inscriptions could also just identify the deceased by name and, when applicable, title(s). However, many shawabtys carry no text at all. The ideal number of such figurines to include in a tomb or burial seems to have varied during different time periods.
ProvenanceFrom Nubia (Sudan), Nuri, Pyramid 3 (tomb of Senkamanisken). 1917: excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of the Sudan.