Ca. 664-332 BC. Late Period. A glazed faience shabti. The head wears a lappet wig and a false beard, with detailed facial features modelled on the front. The figure is mummiform, and two modelled hands emerge on the chest, holding an incised adze and hoe each (farming/irrigation implements). An incised seed bag is shown strung over his left shoulder, and a dorsal column runs down the back. The front of the bound and mummiform legs and stomach is incised with a hieroglyphic inscription. An area at the top of the inscription is damaged, but the part below shows that this belonged to a priest of the goddess Mut. Mut has a highly important deity from the New Kingdom onwards, the goddess of motherhood and the wife of Amun himself. She was particularly popular in Thebes, where many of these shabtis are found, and her cult was centred at Karnak. 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, a hoe, and a seed bag to fulfil this function, 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:105mm / W:30mm ; 45g. 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.