Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · statue

Shabti box of Khabekhnet

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Shabti box, Khabekhnet. New Kingdom, Ramesside, Dynasty 19, reign of Ramesses II, ca. 1279–1213 B.C. Wood, gesso, paint. H. 23 × W. 25 × D. 10 cm (9 1/16 × 9 13/16 × 3 15/16 in.). From: Tomb of Sennedjem (TT 1), Deir el-Medina, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Egypt. Excavation: Egyptian Antiquities Service/Maspero excavations, 1885–86. Credit: Funds from various donors, 1886.

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

Painted wooden shabti box fragment with a recessed inner panel and blue/green decorative banding on the exterior.

The image shows a rectangular upright box-like object with a raised, rounded lid edge. The exterior is heavily worn and flaking, with painted decoration: prominent vertical bands and geometric framing in dark blue, light blue, and green, outlined with yellow/ochre borders. A recessed inner face on the front suggests a covered container typical of shabti equipment. No clearly legible hieroglyphs or text are visible on the pictured surfaces; the central area appears as abstract bands rather than inscriptions at this resolution. There is no visible figure of a deity and no legible royal cartouche. The bottom edge shows raw/unfinished areas consistent with gesso/paint over wood that has chipped away. Overall condition appears poor to fragmentary due to loss of paint and damage along edges and the lid.

decorative New Kingdom, Ramesside period (per catalogue ground truth; visual style appears consistent but exact period cannot be confirmed from image alone). poor
Materials wood (core; implied by chipped edges and box form)gesso (implied by smooth painted surface and cracking)paint (visible pigment layers in blue/green/yellow/ochre)

Connections

Found at Deir el-Medina

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116252816 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 86.1.16 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 551118 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.