Egyptian Faience Ushabti for Nebta

25th Dynasty, circa 664–525 B.C.

An Egyptian faience ushabti with a soft light-green glaze, finely modeled in the mummiform pose of Osiris. The figure stands with arms crossed over the chest, holding a pair of agricultural hoes intended to perform labor on behalf of the deceased in the Field of Reeds to insure for food in the afterlife!   A vertical hieroglyphic inscription begins on the dorsal back pillar and continues across the front of the figure in several horizontal registers banded around the lower body — a characteristic layout of higher-quality Late Period and 25th Dynasty shabtis. The columns record a version of the standard Chapter VI of the Book of the Dead (the "shabti spell"), naming the Osiris [deceased] for whom the figure was to answer when called upon to work. The cartouche/name group appears to read as Nebta, the owner for whom the piece was made.

Overall good ancient condition with the inscription clearly legible; surface wear consistent with age; old restoration/repair around the ankles and at the wig. The glaze retains its characteristic pale green tonality with darker oxidized passages, and the object presents strongly on its custom mount.

Shabtis (or ushabtis, "answerers") were funerary figurines placed in Egyptian tombs from the Middle Kingdom onward, tasked with performing manual labor in the afterlife on behalf of the deceased when summoned by Osiris. During the 25th ("Kushite") Dynasty and into the Late Period, elite burials typically included a set of 401 shabtis — one worker for each day of the year plus 36 overseers — and the finest examples, such as the present figure, bear carefully inscribed spells identifying both the owner and the agricultural tasks to be performed.

Provenance From a private Indiana collection, assembled prior to 1970. In ink directly onto the glaze of the back pillar by a previous owner or dealer, it reads CTC  Ushebti 35.00.   

Old-collection ink inscriptions of this type are extremely common on Egyptian antiquities that passed through European and American private collections in the mid-20th century. Collectors and dealers routinely wrote on an inconspicuous surface like the back pillar or underside of base.