Posted 13 years ago
piratelou
(15 items)
The people I acquired this ushabti/shabti from told me it was purchased when the MET in NYC had a surplus of Egyptian Artifacts. Well, I own it now, but would like much more info about it. I just don't know who to contact. Any help in IDing this piece would be grand. Thanks!
I have been to Egypt a number of times. You can buy this type of object just about anywhere. Fakes abound. Do you know for certain it is genuine? I guess that would be my first step. Local universities with an Egyptology department might be a start.
Well I did work voluntarily in the Egypt centre, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales and they had literally thousands of Shabtis. The thought behind them was that a Shabti represented a worker slave who was going to come into the afterlife with you and serve you. Sometimes you would get Foreman or Gang master shabti. Sometimes an entire family of shabti.
They weren't very well made, because of firing issues and that would go for glass objects as well. Any shabti that's well made could be a fake so difficult to say.