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”I Want to Do This. Here I Am”. Egyptian funerary figurines from the collection of the National Museum in Poznań
On display: 18 June - 30 September 2024
Exhibition curators: Olga Adamczyk, Joanna Teska
Our new exhibition from the series “Close encounters with…” is dedicated to Egyptian funerary figurines from the collection of the National Museum in Poznań.
Funerary figurines were an integral part of the burial equipment of ancient Egyptians. Originally, they served as "substitute" mummies. Starting from the Middle Kingdom period, their role shifted to that of servants or helpers for the deceased, ready to perform manual labour on their behalf in the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians called them shabti or ushabti, which translates to "responders" (from the ancient Egyptian verb usheb, meaning "to answer"). The exhibition title refers to Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead, which contains the spell that "activates" the ushabti.
The collection on display includes 28 mummy-shaped figurines, dating from the early 19th Dynasty (1295-1186 BCE) to the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BCE). Many of them have clearly marked hands, protruding from under the shrouds, holding various agricultural tools and accessories such as hoes, pickaxes, and sometimes a string for a seed bag carried on their backs. The figurines, ranging from a few to several centimetres in height, are made from a variety of materials including stone, wood, Nile silt, clay, and blue and green faience. Most of them bear painted or engraved inscriptions with the deceased's name, their mother's name, titles indicating the social position occupied during their lifetime, and the aforementioned spell from Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. An object of special value is a figurine with a ba bird on its chest (the ba being an aspect of the human soul) – the only one of its kind in Poland’s museum collections (inventory number MNP A 173).
The origin of the figurines housed in the National Museum in Poznań is in many cases unknown. Some were acquired from private collections, including those of politician and writer Józef Kościelski (1845-1911) from the palace in Miłosław, and as part of a deposit made by Antoni Madeyski (1862-1939), a renowned sculptor and painter.
The Poznań ushebties were analysed by the distinguished Egyptologist, Professor Hermann A. Schlӧgl. He determined the origin of 10 figurines (the necropolises in Abusir, Giza, Saqqara, Thebes, and Luxor) and reconstructed the genealogy of the priestly family from Letopolis (modern-day Ausim), near Cairo – based mainly on the Poznań collection (inventory numbers MNP A 149, MNP A 152, MNP A 154, MNP A 153, MNP A 151, MNP A 155).
The exhibition is co-organised by the National Museum in Poznań, The National Museum in Poznań.
