The ushabti was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from ๐
ฑ๐๐๐๐ญ๐พ wลกbtj, which replaced earlier ๐ท๐ฏ๐๐๐ญ๐พ ลกwbtj, perhaps the nisba of ๐๐ฏ๐๐ญ ลกw๊ฃb "Persea tree".
Memphis, 500 BC โ Troop of funerary servant figures ushabtis in the name of Neferibreheb, Louvre-Lens
Four ushabtis of Khabekhnet and their box; 1279โ1213 BC; painted limestone; height of the ushabtis: 16.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ushabti Figurine, Albert Hall Museum
Collection of Ushabti Figurines, Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur
Ancient Egyptian funerary practices
The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death. These rituals included mummifying the body, casting magic spells, and burials with specific grave goods thought to be needed in the afterlife.
The Opening of the Mouth ceremony being performed on a mummy before the tomb. Extract from the Papyrus of Hunefer, a 19th-Dynasty Book of the Dead (c.1300 BCE)
Professional mourners in elegant gestures of mourning
Relief of Men Presenting Oxen, c. 2500โ2350 BCE Limestone. In this relief, three men bring cattle to the tomb owner, "from the towns of the estate", as the inscription says. Two of these balding, rustic laborers wear kilts of coarse material and the other wears nothing at all. A fragmentary scene below shows men bringing cranes, which Egyptians penned and raised for food. Artisans carved images of live food animals in tombs to supply the deceased with an eternal source of provisions.
Mask from a coffin. Middle Kingdom (12th or 13th Dynasty, c. 19th century BCE). Cartonnage, 37.1387E, Brooklyn Museum
