Requires Photography

Shawabty of King Senkamanisken

Napatan Period, reign of Senkamanisken
643–623 B.C.

Findspot: Nubia (Sudan), Nuri, Pyramid 3


Overall: 27 x 7.8 cm (10 5/8 x 3 1/16 in.)

Accession Number


Medium or Technique


Not On View


The Ancient World


Shawabties and shawabty boxes

This is a shawabty belonging to King Senkamanisken. The figure wears the king’s nemes headdress with double uraeus and has a plaited beard attached by an incised chin strap. Here the arms are crossed and the hands are directly opposite each other. The hands and fingers are detailed. In each hand the figure holds a narrow bladed hoe. There are six horizontal lines of incised, black painted, well-preserved hieroglyphs encircling the body. The text is framed and there is a narrow blank area up the center of the back. This mummiform shape does not have a back pillar or base. The object was broken in two pieces and is not mended. The uraei, hands and feet are chipped. Each shawabty has distinctive, individualized facial features. Contrary to what is believed of faience, these figures were not mold made but hand carved.




From Nubia (Sudan), Nuri, Pyramid 3 (tomb of Senkamanisken). 1917: excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of the Sudan.

Credit Line

Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition