Funerary Figure of Nestanebisheru (Primary Title)
Ushabti (Object Name)
Funerary Figure (Alternate Title)
Unknown (Artist)
This funerary figure wears a striated nemes (head cloth) and bears a shortened rendering of the “shabti spell,” from chapter six of the Book of the Dead, to activate the shabti. Discovered in the 19th century in a royal cache at Deir el-Bahri, inscriptions identify the figure as belonging to the burial of Nestanebisheru, daughter of Pinudjem II—high priest of Amun at Thebes—and his first wife, Nesykhonsu.
Dynasty 21
Third Intermediate Period
Gift of Mrs. Marie P. Venner
“Life and Afterlife: Cycles of Nature and Belief in Ancient Egypt,” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA); Penninsula Fine Arts Center (Newport News, VA): 12 June-9 August 1999; William King Museum of Art (Abingdon, VA): 27 August-10 October 1999; Piedmont Arts Association (Martinsville, VA): 15 October-28 November 1999; Emerson Gallery (McLean, VA): 3 December 1999-15 January 2000; Longwood Center for the Visual Arts (Farmville, VA): 22 January-5 March 2000.
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
