An Egyptian White Faience Shabti for Neferenpet, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1293 - 1185 BCE

Shabtis of this style belonged to the prophet priests of Ptah at Memphis who had a semi-royal status (cf. J.F. Aubert, Statuettes Egyptiennes, Paris, 1974, p. 91). This example shows the mummiform figure of Neferrenpet, Vizier of Egypt, and High Priest of Ptah under Ramesses II. It is made from white faience with a transparent glaze with features carefully highlighted in dark pigment. He wears a striated short black wig with a curled side-lock, a small goatee, and around his neck is a wide broad collar with a lower row of beads. Both hands protrude from the mummy shroud to hold a hoe, for work in the afterlife, and on his back is a wide seed sack. A single column of vertical text runs down the front that reads: "The illuminated one, the sem-priest of Ptah, Neferrenpet.” White faience shabtis were difficult to produce, for, during the production of the white faience, it was important to make sure colored impurities did not mix with the transparent glaze. It was also critical that the ir