Shabtis of Ankhshepenwepet
Late Period
The burial of Ankhshepenwepet included two small wooden shabti boxes with vaulted ends and flat lids (see 25.3.206.1a, b and 25.3.207.1a, b). A total of 371 mummiform shabtis are divided between the two boxes, with 157 in this box and 214 in the other.
The shabtis are small and crudely made in one-sided molds, but would have functioned, like other more elaborate examples (see 86.1.22), to carry out manual labor on behalf of the deceased if she were to be called upon to work in the afterlife. All are of the same basic shape and have no distinguishing characteristics, in contrast to other assemblages in which some shabtis are shown as workers (carrying agricultural tools) and the others as overseers (holding whips). However, most of them may still have meant to represent workers, perhaps one for each day of the year, and the others to stand in as overseers.
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