Ushebti for Djed-Khonsu-Iwf-Ankh. Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, XXI dynasty, c. 1069 - 946 BC.

Ushebti for Djed-Khonsu-Iwf-Ankh. Ancient Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, XXI dynasty, c. 1069 - 946 BC.
Fayenza.
Provenance: Private collection of Bodo Bleß (1940-2022), Berlin, acquired from S. Michel, London, July 1962.
Good state of preservation.
Measurements: 10.8 cm high; 12.5 cm high with stand.

Ushebti of Djed-khonsu-iwef-ankh mummiform form, with tripartite wig and a diadem highlighted in black. The details of the face are highlighted in black, as are those of the rest of the piece. The arms are crossed from left to right over the chest and the hands hold a pair of hoes painted in black.

The ushebtis are small statuettes that were deposited in the tombs as part of the grave goods of the deceased. The oldest preserved examples come from the Middle Empire, although we already find references to them in texts from the end of the Ancient Empire. Throughout time they always maintained the same function in the religious sphere but, while during the Middle Empire they were conceived as the representation of their owner before Osiris in the tasks of tillage in the kingdom of the shadows, replicas of the deceased, from the New Empire onwards they came to be seen as servants or slaves of the deceased, being made in large quantities.