Egyptian Ushabti Figure (New Kingdom, Faience)

Egyptian Ushabti Figure (New Kingdom, Faience): A Servant for Eternity

Of all the objects that have survived from ancient Egypt, the ushabti is among the most numerous and, in its quiet way, among the most poignant. These small figurines -- typically mummiform, typically holding agricultural implements, typically inscribed with hieroglyphs asserting their readiness for service -- were placed in tombs throughout ancient Egyptian history to serve the deceased in the afterlife. The New Kingdom examples, produced during the period from approximately 1550 to 1070 BCE across the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties, represent the form at its most sophisticated: technically accomplished, beautifully glazed, and carrying a theological weight that extends from the Book of the Dead directly to the grave goods surrounding the mummy.

For collectors of ancient Egyptian antiquities, a New Kingdom faience ushabti represents an accessible entry point into material that has been passing between private collections and public institutions for centuries. These are genuine artifacts of one of history's greatest civilizations, available through legitimate channels, and carrying stories that span three thousand years.

What Is an Ushabti?

The name ushabti (also spelled shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings reflecting different transliteration approaches) derives from ancient Egyptian, where it is thought to have meant "follower" or "answerer" -- because the figurine answered for the deceased person when the gods of the afterlife summoned workers for agricultural labor.

The theological logic was sophisticated. Egyptian belief held that the afterlife required work just as mortal life did. The fertile fields of the Aaru, the Egyptian paradise, needed tending. Canals needed digging. Crops needed harvesting. The gods could summon any soul to perform this labor, regardless of their status in mortal life. The ushabti was the solution: a servant figure inscribed with a specific chapter of the Book of the Dead (Chapter Six) that animated the figurine to answer the summons in place of its owner, allowing nobles and wealthy individuals to spend eternity in leisure rather than agricultural servitude.

The inscription on a canonical ushabti repeated the relevant Book of the Dead passage: "O this ushabti, if I am called, if I am numbered to do any works that are to be done in the realm of the dead -- for a man is placed under obligation there -- to cultivate the fields, to irrigate the banks, to transport sand from the east to the west -- 'Here am I,' you shall say."

The figurine, inscribed with the owner's name, would answer that call. By the New Kingdom, the practice had expanded to include enormous numbers of ushabtis per burial. Royal tombs might contain 365 ushabtis (one for every day of the year) plus 36 overseer figures responsible for supervising groups of ten workers -- totaling 401 figures for the ultimate royal burial. Non-royal tombs included as many as the owner could afford, from a single modest figure to several hundred.

New Kingdom Faience Ushabtis: The Peak of the Form

Faience is not clay, despite its common association with pottery. Egyptian faience is a glazed non-clay ceramic material composed of crushed quartz or sand, lime, and natron (a naturally occurring salt), shaped into form and then fired with a glaze that produces the characteristic brilliant blue-green surface. The material was prized throughout Egyptian history as a substitute for turquoise and lapis lazuli, gemstones associated with the sky, water, and rebirth. Its color evoked the Nile, vegetation, and the generative power of nature.

New Kingdom faience ushabtis represent the technical apex of the form. Craftsmen during the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties developed techniques for producing ushabtis of remarkable detail and color consistency. The finest examples show crisp hieroglyphic inscriptions covering the legs and body of the figure, detailed facial features with painted eyes and eyebrows in black against the blue-green glaze, and clear delineation of the crossed arms holding hoes or other implements of labor.

The color of New Kingdom faience ushabtis ranges from turquoise to deep cobalt blue to a muted blue-green depending on the specific mineral composition of the glaze and the firing conditions. Some examples show painted details in black or dark brown over the glaze -- these painted additions were typically added after initial firing and represent additional artistic investment in the piece.

The History of Ushabti Collecting

Ushabtis have been collected in the Western world since at least the 17th century, when European travelers began bringing Egyptian antiquities back from their journeys to the Levant and Egypt. The 19th century saw an explosion of Egyptian antiquities on the European market as Napoleon's Egyptian campaign (1798-1801) and the subsequent Egyptomania that swept European culture created enormous demand.

By the Victorian era, ushabtis were among the most commonly available ancient Egyptian objects, precisely because so many had been produced over such a long period of Egyptian history. Major collections assembled by 19th and early 20th century collectors dispersed through auction throughout the 20th century, creating a continuous market of objects with well-documented provenance chains.

The result is that legitimate New Kingdom ushabtis with clean collection histories appear regularly at auction and through reputable antiquities dealers. This accessibility -- combined with the objects' genuine antiquity, their aesthetic quality, and the richness of their historical context -- makes them one of the most approachable categories of ancient art for new collectors.

Major public museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Louvre, and dozens of university and regional museums contain significant ushabti holdings that are publicly viewable and provide comparison points for collectors evaluating potential purchases. Studying museum examples in person is one of the best ways to develop the eye needed to assess quality and authenticity.

Identifying New Kingdom Ushabtis

For collectors, distinguishing genuine New Kingdom faience ushabtis from later examples and from the reproductions that have been made since the 19th century requires attention to several characteristics.

Period Identification: New Kingdom ushabtis (c. 1550-1070 BCE) typically share these features:

• Mummiform shape, with crossed arms visible across the chest

• Tripartite wig (the traditional Egyptian wig falling in three sections: two down the front and one down the back)

• Hoe or hoes held in the crossed arms, sometimes with a basket carried on the back

• Hieroglyphic inscription on the legs and lower body

• Turquoise or cobalt blue-green faience glaze

• Height typically between 8 and 18 centimeters

• The overall aesthetic of New Kingdom ushabtis tends toward elongated elegance compared to the blockier forms of earlier periods

Distinguishing Authentic from Reproduction: The market for Egyptian antiquities has always attracted reproductions, ranging from Victorian tourist souvenir pieces (often quite obvious) to more sophisticated modern fakes. Key indicators of authenticity include:

• Wear patterns consistent with burial deposit and subsequent handling over millennia -- not just surface patina

• Faience that shows the specific aging characteristics of ancient glaze: fine cracks in the surface glaze (crizzling), loss of glaze at edges and high points consistent with actual age

• Hieroglyphic inscriptions with the specific stylistic characteristics of New Kingdom scribal tradition

• Evidence of sediment in recessed areas matching ancient burial deposit

• Thermoluminescence (TL) testing, available from specialized laboratories, provides the most definitive dating for faience objects and should be requested for significant purchases

What Authentic Faience Looks Like Up Close: Ancient faience has a glass-like quality in the glaze that differs from modern ceramic glazes. The surface typically shows a slightly uneven coverage reflecting hand application, and the color depth varies slightly across the surface. The body material visible at any exposed edges or damage should appear as fine sandy quartz, not clay.

Market Values for New Kingdom Faience Ushabtis

The ushabti market spans a wide range depending on quality, royal vs. non-royal attribution, condition, and provenance documentation. A basic non-inscribed New Kingdom ushabti might sell for a few hundred dollars at auction. A high-quality example with clear hieroglyphic inscription, excellent glaze condition, and noble or royal attribution can reach tens of thousands.

Approximate Value Ranges

Reference auction record: A ushabti for the General Kasa sold at Bonhams London in April 2014 for GBP 30,000 (approximately $36,666 at exchange rates). Named high-official ushabtis represent the upper tier of the market.

Provenance and Legal Considerations

The legal landscape for ancient Egyptian antiquities is a critical consideration for any collector. Egypt has banned the export of antiquities since 1983, and international conventions including the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property establish 1970 as the standard reference date for clean provenance.

A New Kingdom ushabti with documented provenance showing it was in a known private collection before 1970, or that it passed through legitimate auction before that date, is generally considered legally collectible in most Western countries. Objects without pre-1970 documentation carry legal risk and should be approached with significant caution.

Reputable dealers in ancient Egyptian antiquities will provide provenance documentation with any significant purchase and will be transparent about the object's history to the extent it can be traced. Major auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams have their own provenance review processes that provide additional assurance.

Care and Display

Ancient faience is more durable than it looks -- it has, after all, survived three thousand years in burial conditions. However, it requires appropriate care for long-term preservation.

Keep faience ushabtis away from direct sunlight, which can fade any surviving pigment details. Maintain a stable humidity environment -- significant humidity fluctuations can cause stress in the glaze layer over time. Never clean with water or chemicals without consulting a conservator; the soluble salts in ancient faience can be destabilized by moisture. Soft brushing with a clean dry brush is appropriate for dust removal.

Display on a stable surface where they will not be moved frequently. The edges and corners of ancient faience can chip, and even gentle contact with hard surfaces can cause damage. Many collectors use archival foam cradles to support ushabtis at a stable angle for display.

A New Kingdom faience ushabti in your collection is not merely an object -- it is a direct connection to the beliefs, craftsmanship, and material culture of one of history's most enduring civilizations, made 3,000 years ago by skilled artisans for a specific spiritual purpose, and preserved through extraordinary circumstance to reach the present day.

Building a Collection Around Ushabtis

For collectors interested in expanding beyond a single ushabti, several collecting strategies offer coherent frameworks. A chronological collection tracing the development of the ushabti form from the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055-1650 BCE) through the New Kingdom's peak production and into the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period forms documents the evolution of the type across 1,500 years. The changes in proportion, inscription style, and material choices between periods are documented well in scholarship and make for genuinely illuminating comparison.

A single-period collection focusing on the New Kingdom can be built around variation in quality: examples ranging from modest, simply inscribed figures that modest households might have afforded to high-quality royal-workshop pieces that show the full capabilities of the finest craftsmen. This kind of range within a period shows not just what the objects were but how economic and social factors influenced their production.

A third approach focuses on specific aspects of the ushabti tradition: the overseer figures with their distinctive robes and whips (rather than the agricultural implements of worker ushabtis), the unusual wooden or stone examples made alongside the standard faience, or the later period ushabtis from the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period (after 1070 BCE) that show the form's continued development after the New Kingdom.

Whatever approach you take, connecting with established dealers, auction specialists in Egyptian antiquities, and community resources like the Shabtis.com database (which catalogs known examples across collections worldwide) will help you build the knowledge base that informs confident collecting in this area.

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