Shabti of Sety I

Wooden mummiform shabti wearing a plain tripartite wig with widely spaced front lappets, the rear lappet being hidden beneath a label. The face is somewhat square, the eyes small and rather poorly worked, the nose small and rubbed. The ears are barely discernible and the arms barely modelled are crossed right over left above the waist. The buttocks are high on the body, and gently defined. The shabti does not carry implements in its hands and there is no basket on the back. There are traces of varnish remaining on the back of the legs, and front midriff, as well as on the chest, arms, shoulders and face. The shabti is inscribed with the throne name of the pharaoh Sety I, Menmmatra, within a cartouche and with the 6th Chapter of the Book of the Dead. Inscription: six lines; fairly crisp; the upper register is partly obscured by the varnish. Transliteration and translation of the inscription: sHD [Wsir nsw.t Mn-MAa.t-Ra] mAa-xrw Dd.f [i SAb.ty] ip.t[n] ir aS.t ir Hsb.t[w sA] Ra sty-mr.y-(n)-PtH mAa-xrw r ir.t kA.t nb(.t) irr.t (i)m (m) Xr.t-nTr r smh.yt wDb.w Xn.t Say n iAb.tt r [imn.tt i]s Hw n.f sDb.w im m s r Xr.wt.f iry m.k kA.t, "The illuminated one, the Osiris, the King, Men–Maat–Re, justified, he speaks: O, these shabtis, if one calls, if one reckons, the [Son] of Re, Seti, Beloved (of) Ptah, justified, to do all the works that are to be done there in the realm of the dead – to irrigate the river banks, to transport sand of the east to the west – now indeed obstacles are implanted there for him, as for a man at his duties to work, ‘here I am.’". An old label attached to the rear lappet of the wig reads: "Figure of a Mummy made of wood covered with asphaltum, brought by Belzoni from the Tomb of Rammesu". Formerly in the collection of Henrietta Gurney and recorded as having been discovered by Giovani Belzoni.