Ca. 664-332 BC. Late Period. A pale blue-glazed faience shabti on a modern stand. The head wears a lappet wig and a false beard, with detailed facial features modelled on the front, including ears peaking out over the wig. The figure is mummiform, and two hands emerge on the chest to cross over each other, holding an incised adze and a hoe (farming/irrigation implements). There is a dorsal pillar running down the back, and the front of the bound and mummiform legs is incised with a hieroglyphic inscription; the lower half is damaged and illegible, but the beginning reads, 'the god, the Osiris' which would likely have been followed by the name of the tomb-owner. The term 'the Osiris' is often attached to the deceased individual in Egyptian funerary literature, as part of a human's journey to the next life included merging with the god Osiris, so it here references the dead person more than the god. The Egyptian idea of Paradise ('Sekhet Aaru' - 'the Field of Reeds') was an idealised reflection of Egypt itself, and this meant bountiful agriculture - something that required servants and farmhands to be taken to the afterlife. Shabti like this one were buried as grave goods, sometimes in groups of hundreds, to be brought to life for that very purpose. From the reign of Thutmose IV they were typically depicted with an adze and hoe, taking the chores of Paradise off the deceased's hands. During this period, they were called upon using the Book of the Dead (chapter 6). Size: L:95mm / W:25mm ; 36g. Provenance: From the important collection of a London doctor A.R; passed by descent to his son; formerly acquired before 2000 on the UK art market.