Egypt Exploration Society

A Ushabti with an Unusual Formula Author(s): Manfred Cassirer Source: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 42 (Dec., 1956), p. 120 Published by: Egypt Exploration Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3855136 Accessed: 19/03/2010 03:49
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A Ushabti with an unusual formula

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THEstatuettein question,in the writer'scollection,is of the coarsercommontype of the late New Kingdomwith dull blue glaze and blackdetailsand inscription;the height is 4' inches. It has the sand is shown in outline. The workmanfilletinsteadof the wig, and on the backthe bagfor carrying has in been broken two. is and the object ship poor, Its sole interest is in the inscription,of which I append a facsimile with transcription,which deviatessomewhatfrom the standardtext. It seems to consist of the pronounink 'I (am)', followed by the name Mewet-em-'Ipet, and the obligatorym;rhrw.2 as a servantratherthan as a mere Afterthe EighteenthDynastythe ushabtiwas as a rule regarded too for the all substitute perishablemummy. Accordingly,ushabtis were now provided in considerablenumbers and supplied with 'overseers'.3 However, there persisted a typically Egyptian confusion between differentand partly incompatibleideas, whereby the ushabti could be simulstatue of the defunct; (2) a servant-statuette or 'slave'(hm);4 (3) a taneously(i) a mummy-shaped or in the attire of the either living.5 mummy-shaped funeraryfigure, The Egyptiansthen were no more consistentin this than in any other mattertouching the religious sphere. It appears,moreover,that under the Twenty-second Dynasty (the approximate date of the presentspecimen)the ideas, if not the iconographical accessories, connectingit with the corvee in the netherworldfell into abeyance,with the result that the figurinebecame once more, MANFRED CASSIRER as here, a substitutefor the mummy.6
With n for m (Erman, Neudg. Gramm. 6o6). Not listed in Ranke's Personennamen. For the spelling, see Speleers, Fig. fun. I 3. I have to thank Prof. Cernmfor suggesting the reading ink. 3 Cf. Petrie, Shabtis, I2 f. 4 See Cerny in Bull. Inst. fr. 41, i i6 f. s Speleers, op. cit. I69. See also Gardiner in ZAS 43, 55 ff. 6 Petrie, op. cit. 9.
I 2