Shabtis or ushabtis are among the most numerous of all Egyptian antiquities, as they played a major role in funeral rites. As small figurines buried with the deceased, they were intended to act as servants for the dead and to perform any manual labour for their master in the afterlife. To reflect this function, they are usually depicted in the form of a mummy holding tools in their hands – baskets, mattocks and hoes. The addition of the pendular pots was especially favoured from the end of the 18th Dynasty to the beginning of the 20th Dynasty. It was necessary that each shabti present in the grave had the name of their master inscribed on it and also a summoning spell to which they replied. In fact, shabti – or ushabti – translates as “the answerer”. Such figurines could also be inscribed with passages from the Book of the Dead, the intention of which was to secure safety for the deceased in the afterlife.
Wen-nefer was a High Priest of Osiris in the Third Intermediate Period. His name, literally translating to “the one who continues to be perfect”, draws from a common epithet of Osiris and his chthonic association. High Priesthood was the topmost office of a varied and busy religious industry in ancient Egypt. Everyday duties included maintaining the temples, performing rituals, and copying religious texts, though proximity to the Pharoah also granted significant political power. The religious reforms of Akhenaten in the 14th Century BC, though unsuccessful, were largely an attempt to curb the unbridled wealth and power of the High Priests. By Wen-nefer’s time, the priesthood held equal authority to the King himself, acting as direct intermediaries to the gods and governing Upper Egypt in matters of law, policy, and infrastructure.
To discover more about Egyptian shabtis, please visit our relevant blog post: How Ancient Egyptian Shabtis and Funerary Statuettes Watched Over the Dead
