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Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art: Coffin for a Shabty

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Coffin for a Shabty

The Egyptians believed that the dead could be called upon to produce food in the Netherworld by dredging canals and harvesting crops. Shabtis are funerary figures that could be magically activated to be eternal insurance policies and, at least in some sense, protective amulets against posthumous labor. The Egyptians came to hope and believe that when the gods called upon a deceased person to do such work, his or her shabti would do the work instead.

Medium: Limestone
Place Made: Egypt
Dates: ca. 1539-1400 B.C.E.
Dynasty: first half of XVIII Dynasty
Period: New Kingdom
Dimensions: Dimensions of Closed Coffin: 7 x 7 x 15 1/4 in. (17.8 x 17.8 x 38.7 cm)
Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art
Museum Location: This item is not on view
Accession Number: 37.128E
Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Image: Overall, 37.128E_closed_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006

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