Ushabti belonging to Nesyamunipet

This ushabti belonged to an ancient Egyptian man named Nesyamunipet. It is inscribed with his name and titles. This is one of two ushabtis belonging to Nesyamunipet in the care of the Harvard Art Museums: see also 1919.608. Nesyamunipet was buried in the group tomb known as Bab el-Gasus, “Gate of the Priests,” in Luxor (ancient Thebes), along with about 150 other members of the ancient Egyptian priesthood. Ushabtis are ancient Egyptian funerary figurines that were buried with a deceased person (the owner) and designed to perform tasks for them in the afterlife. They were usually inscribed with the owner’s name. They were believed to be “activated” when the deceased owner recited a portion of the Book of the Dead that explained the ushabti’s duties, which is sometimes inscribed on them (see 2019.354 for an example of this text). In such inscriptions, the deceased person is referred to as the “illuminated Osiris”—a gesture toward the hope that they would be resurrected like the god Osiris and everlasting like the sun. Ushabtis were almost always made in sets so that there would be many figurines to serve the deceased person. A full set comprised 401 ushabtis: one “worker” ushabti for every day of the year, plus one “overseer” ushabti for every ten, to make sure the rest were doing their jobs. You might sometimes see the word ushabti spelled as “shawabty” or “shabti”; these are the same type of object.