The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 16, 2026

A weathered, gray-blue terracotta sculpture depicts a small humanlike figure broken off at the lower legs. Resting its arms crossed over its chest, the figure wears a thick, hooded headpiece that frames a face with worn, indistinct features. The surface is grainy and pitted, showing muted tan tones and flecks of blue coloring in the recessed areas. This narrow, vertically oriented fragment has a heavily aged, textured appearance.

Shawabty of Ditamenpaankh

715–656 BCE

Egypt, Late period , Dynasty 25

(715–332 BCE)
terracotta
Overall: 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.4 cm (1 3/4 x 1 x 9/16 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1914.718.132
Location: Not on view

Description

High demand for shawabtys in the Late Period, a time when as many as 400 or more shawabtys were placed in the tomb with the deceased, gave rise to a specialized container for storing them: the shawabty box. This example is inscribed for the lady of the house, Ditamenpaankh, and was probably one of a pair originally made for her. The single-masted boat on the box's lid is perhaps an allusion to the pilgrimage of the deceased to the holy city of Abydos, the cult city of Osiris, king of the dead. The shawabtys inside are crude, mass-produced examples cast in an open mold. Made of terracotta, their blue paint imitates more costly shawabtys made of faience. As for the shawabty spell, it has been removed from its traditional location on the shawabty's front and relocated onto the sides of box, where it needed only to be written once, thus expediting production.
  • Probably Thebes. Purchased in Egypt by Lucy Olcott Perkins through Henry W. Kent.
  • Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 448-9
  • {{cite web|title=Shawabty of Ditamenpaankh|url=false|author=|year=715–656 BCE|access-date=16 June 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1914.718.132