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Shawabty of Queen Madiken

Nubian
Napatan Period, reign of Anlamani
623–593 B.C.
Findspot: Nubia (Sudan), Nuri, Pyramid 27

Medium/Technique Faience
Dimensions Overall: 16 x 6.2 cm (6 5/16 x 2 7/16 in.)
Credit Line Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Accession Number21.15697
NOT ON VIEW

DescriptionThis is a shawabty of Queen Madiken. The female figure wears the queen's vulture headdress over the tripartite wig. The arms are not crossed, the hands are opposed. There is no seed bag. The figure holds the hoe in its right hand and the flail in its left. There are seven horizontal lines of incised text encircling the body. The text is framed and there is a blank column up the center of the back dividing the back of the text. The text is painted black. This mummiform shape does not have a back pillar or base. The object was broken in two pieces and one chip and is not mended. The top right part of the headdress is missing. The right side of the shoulder and elbow are chipped off. The top of the left hand and part of the right hand are worn. The feet are missing.

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 27 (tomb of Queen Maldiken). 1918: 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.