/internal/media/dispatcher/1510657/resize%25253Aformat%25253DthumbnailShawabty of King Taharqa690–664 B.C.Overall: 21.1 x 7.5 cm (8 5/16 x 2 15/16 in.)Red-brown serpentinized rockHarvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition20.2340This is a shawabty belonging to King Taharqa. The figure wears a bulging bag (khat) headdress with uraeus and has a long beard. There are ten horizontal lines of incised unframed text on the front of body, it does not extend to the back of the figure, but it records a version of the 'Shawabty Spell' for the king. This mummiform shape does not have a back pillar or base. Here the hands are opposed resting on the chest. In each hand the figure holds a hoe and a cord to a small bag slung over each shoulder. The hoe on the right has a narrow blade and the one on left has a broad blade. This shawabty is very well made.
The ancient Nubians included shawabtys in their tombs only in the Napatan Period, about 750–270 B.C. These funerary figurines are based on Egyptian shawabtys, but differ from them in many features of their iconography. For instance, the known Nubian examples are only from royal tombs. Also, they have unique texts, implements, poses and are known to have the largest number of shawabtys included in one tomb. Their function, it is assumed, was the same as that of the Egyptian shawabty, namely to magically animate in the Afterlife in order to act as a proxy for the deceased when called upon to tend to field labor or other tasks. This expressed purpose was sometimes written on the shawabty itself in the form of a "Shawabty Spell," of which versions of various lengths are known. Shorter shawabty inscriptions could also just identify the deceased by name and, when applicable, title(s). However, many shawabtys carry no text at all. The ideal number of such figurines to include in a tomb or burial seems to have varied during different time periods.Tomb equipment21.10000000000.000000000014230601