Skip Navigation

Head from a Shabty of King Akhenaten

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Amarna Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor
The four stone shabties made for King Akhenaten illustrate the royal ideal in the Eighteenth Dynasty. They are a representative sample of the materials used to create hundreds of shabties for this king. Each stone type symbolizes a divinity related to the afterlife. For example, the red shabty associates Akhenaten with Re, the sun god, while the black granite one links him to Osiris, represented as the fertile soil of Egypt.
MEDIUM Quartzite
  • Place Made: Tell el-Amarna, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1352-1336 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 18
    PERIOD New Kingdom, Amarna Period
    DIMENSIONS 3 3/8 x 3 11/16 x 2 7/8 in. (8.6 x 9.3 x 7.3 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 35.1867
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    PROVENANCE Tell el Amarna, Egypt; before 1935, acquired by Maurice Nahman of Cairo, Egypt; 1935, purchased from Maurice Nahman by Jean Capart for the Brooklyn Museum.
    Provenance FAQ
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Pink granite head of ushabti of Akhenaten. Slight remnant of color on lips and in minor crevices. Condition: Large slice missing from crown of head; nose chipped; beard almost completely missing; broken from body at neck.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Amarna Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor
    CAPTION Head from a Shabty of King Akhenaten, ca. 1352-1336 B.C.E. Quartzite, 3 3/8 x 3 11/16 x 2 7/8 in. (8.6 x 9.3 x 7.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 35.1867. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 35.1867_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 35.1867_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.