The Shabtis of Tjuyu (CG 51037–51040)

Introduction

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo owns four shabtis for Tjuyu (CG 51038–40), the wife of the ‘god’s father’ Yuya, mother of Queen Tiye, and mother in law of King Amenhotep III. ¹ CG 51037 was looted on 28 January 2011 (fig. 1), the ‘Friday of Anger’ of the Egyptian Revolution. CG 51040 was also looted on the same day, but it has since been recovered. The shabtis came from the tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu (KV46), ² and were displayed in Hall B43 of the first floor. Their current location is Hall B15 of the same floor. The early publications by T. M. Davis and J. E. Quibell did not include the inscriptions on these shabtis, and they also lack adequate images, or even images altogether. ³ Moreover, the state of preservation of these shabtis has not been investigated since the discovery of the tomb in 1905.

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Fig. 1.

The four shabtis of Tjuyu – two in the back and two in the central row on the left and the right – at the Egyptian Museum Cairo (CG 51037–40), image taken in 2004 (photo: courtesy of Tutincommon, Flickr ⁴ ).

The mummiform shabtis represent Tjuyu with crossed arms ⁵ (fig. 1) and a long striated tripartite wig, revealing the ears. The tip of the wig terminates on the chest with a narrow horizontal band. CG 51037–8 are made of light coloured wood. A thin layer of gesso was applied to the wood, then covered with a silver foil. ⁶ These two have gilded faces, ears, broad collars and hands; CG 51038 ⁷ also has bracelets. CG 51039–40 were manufactured in the same way, but they were covered with gold foil. ⁸ The four shabtis do have elongated fleshy faces, thin lips and broad noses. The gilded faces do not show details, but the eyes and eyebrows are visibly marked. The eyelids droop down to cover the eyeballs. The figurines are shown wearing large gilded broad collars with falcon terminals such as those which were produced by the royal workshops and found among the royal gifts. ⁹ They consist of seven rows of cylindrical beads which are strung vertically in rows with the last row having tear-shaped drop pendants (CG 51038–40); the collar of CG 51037 consists of only six rows. The shabtis have integral plinths. CG 51037–8 and CG 51040 have nine incised lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions between border lines on the front and the two sides of these shabtis, whereas CG 51039 has ten lines. The inscriptions read from right to left. The text starts beneath the elbow.

CG 51037 (fig. 2)

CG 51037 measures 27.7 cm in height (width and depth unknown). It was stolen on 28 January 2011 during the Egyptian Revolution. Although it was generally in a good state of preservation at the time, some minor damage had been noted prior to its theft. When it was found in 1905, the excavators reported that the silver foil had peeled off, ¹⁰ and it turned to a blue-black colour. The plaster and silver were removed at the edge of the plinth, revealing the wood beneath. The same damage is attested on the left shoulder and arm, the wig, the bottom, and along the legs on the sides. In contrast to the other silver covered shabti (CG 51038) this one does not have gilded bracelets. However, it seems that the gilded bracelets of CG 51038 were covered with silver which was removed over time, as the remains of silver still partially cover the bracelet of the right wrist. The inscriptions on this shabti start with the same titles of Tjuyu as on CG 51039 ¹¹ containing the title wrt-xnrt n Imn ‘great one of the group of the musical performers of Amun’ playing a significant role in singing and dancing in the temple, ¹² while the epithet of Osiris before the name of Tjuyu, is absent on CG 51039.

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Fig. 2.

The shabti of Tjuyu (CG 51037), looted on 28 January 2011 (photo: courtesy of Hans Ollermann).

CG 51038 (fig. 3)

This shabti measures H. 27 cm, W. 10 cm, D. 20 cm and has been extensively damaged (deteriorated) over time. The damage is demonstrated by the colour-change of the silver foil into blue-black. Quibell also reported salt crystals on and near the head. ¹³ The underlying white plaster is visible in many locations where the silver peeled off on the front and back of the shabti. The wooden core can be seen in places where the plaster and silver had fallen off. This occurs on the nose, the fists, the right arm, front of the plinth, beneath the bottom, and there are many scratches throughout the surface of the shabti. Tjuyu wears a large gilded broad collar of seven rows of cylindrical beads which are strung vertically in rows; the last row from the bottom is of tear-shaped drop pendants. She also wears bracelets; ¹⁴ the one on the right wrist has two different colours of gold. Nine hieroglyphic lines are engraved on the front and two sides of the shabti. They read from right to left:

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Fig. 3.

CG 51038 (photo: courtesy of the Egyptian Museum Cairo).

CG 51039 (fig. 4)

This shabti measures H. 26 cm, W. 9 cm, D. 19.5 cm, and it is the best preserved in this group. However, the gold foil has partially fallen off, leaving the plaster or wood beneath exposed. This occurs on the front in the location of the sixth line of the inscription with a short, fragmented line above the words of r srwd sh̬t and the back of the right arm. There are dispersed scratches on the wig, the back, and, especially, on the bottom. The ten incised hieroglyphic lines on the front and the two sides read from right to left:

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Fig. 4.

CG 51039 (photo: courtesy of the Egyptian Museum Cairo).

CG 51040 (fig. 5)

This shabti measures H. 26.2 cm, W. 8.5 cm, D. 19.8 cm, and is in a good state of preservation, ²³ though the gilding is visibly lost in many scattered locations on the front including the fists and arms. The back of the shabti and the top of the wig suffered from the same damage, but it is substantial particularly on the back of her right shoulder, on the buttocks and around and beneath it to the left side, and on the calf and feet. Prominent damage of the wood is visible on the nose, in the seventh line of the hieroglyphic inscription, the plinth, the right side in the tenth line, and the back of the right arm. The nine incised hieroglyphic lines read:

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Fig. 5.

CG 51040 (photo: courtesy of the Egyptian Museum Cairo).

Discussion

Tjuyu’s husband, Yuya, has fifteen shabtis ²⁵ while she has only four. However, the value of her shabtis being made of silver and gold foils on wood is higher than her husband’s and indicates a flourishing economic status. She probably obtained this position from her husband and being mother of Queen Tiye and mother-in-law of King Amenhotep III. The shabtis of Tjuyu could be compared with an incised wooden gilded appliqué for her daughter, Queen Tiye (Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst, Munich, ÄM 5873), ²⁶ and the shabtis of Tutankhamun, who has many wooden statuettes which are covered with gold foil (JdE 60758–824, ²⁷ JdE 60829, JdE 60833–4). A few women in the Eighteenth Dynasty had beautiful shabtis indicating their good position ²⁸ including the shabti of Lady Henut-wedjebu (wood, H. 27.8 cm, Toledo Museum of Art 1993.52), ²⁹ the shabti of Lady Sati (faience, H. 25 cm, W. 8 cm, Brooklyn Museum 37.123E), ³⁰ and the shabti of Kai-neferu (wood, H. 27.4 cm, W. 5 cm, MFA Boston 72.4088). ³¹ The male elite officials from the reign of Amenhotep III have many beautiful shabtis including Yuya (CG 51024–34, CG 51036) as I have mentioned above, ³² the ‘Artisan of the Tomb’ Maya (Brooklyn Museum 86.226.21), ³³ and the Vizier Ptahmes (CG 48406). ³⁴ For Amenhotep III himself, at least 60 shabtis ³⁵ are known.

The four shabtis of Tjuyu follow class VB1 of the classification of Schneider, representing Tjuyu in mummiform with empty hands. ³⁶ This form is attested on five of her husband’s shabtis (CG 51030–2, CG 51036, MMA 30.8.56). ³⁷

The shabtis of Tjuyu are incised with the shabti spell, Chapter Six of the Book of the Dead, which asks the shabti to do any menial labour on behalf of the deceased in the hereafter. ³⁸ Version IVC with summons II of the classification of Schneider is used on these four shabtis. ³⁹ The inscriptions are incised beneath the elbow on the front and the two sides between border lines. ⁴⁰ The incised inscriptions took less time than the raised ones on wood, sedimentary stone, and gesso according to recent experimental study. ⁴¹ Moreover, the study suggests that the incision on gold, silver, and copper, could be done by a sharp flint tool and no other materials could produce the same precise incised hieroglyphs. ⁴²

The intended audience that the inscriptions address is the object itself, the shabti; the spell is not directed to the living, nor is it intended for posterity. ⁴³ The spell, engraved on the shabti, which itself would be placed in the burial chamber inside the shabti box, was expected to magically induce the shabti to perform manual labour on behalf of its owner if he or she were called up for work in the afterlife. However, the makers of the shabti, the scribes, artists and the owners, were a kind of second or third hands, i.e., a participating audience. They witnessed the manufacture of the shabti and participated in the communication process by leaving their marks on the figurines. ⁴⁴

The orthography of Tjuyu’s name is written consistently on these shabtis and the rest of her funerary equipment, Twiw, with or without the determinative of a sitting woman; however, three other objects record three different spellings: Tiww (anthropoid coffin, CG 51007), Tiwi (scarab, CG 51166), and Twy (Djed amulet, CG 51169). ⁴⁵ A ‘substitution’ between i and w could be the case in Tiww (CG 51007), while on the other two small objects (CG 1166 and CG 51169), the alternate spelling could have been made by mistake. In contrast, the name of her husband, Yuya, is written with scores of different spellings. ⁴⁶ Tjuyu held the titles of ḥst nt ntr-nfr ‘favourite of the perfect god’ (CG 51040), hkrt nsw ‘royal ornament’ (CG 51038), and wrt n h̬nrt ’Imn ‘great one of group of musical performers of Amun’ (CG 51037, CG 51039). ⁴⁷ She held many other titles on her funerary equipment (CG 51005–7, CG 51011, CG 51013, CG 51018–21, CG 51166, CG 51169, CG 51171) ⁴⁸ including ḥsyt nt Ḥwt-ḥr ‘singer of Hathor’ who had a strong relationship with h̬nr, ⁴⁹ nbt-pr ‘lady of the house’, wrt h̬nrt n Mnw ‘great one of the group of musical performers of Min’, wrt h̬nrt n ’Imn ‘great one of the group of musical performers of Amun’, mwt-nsw n ḥmt nsw wrt ‘king’s mother of the great royal wife’, i.e. Tiye, and šm‘yt n ’Imn ‘singer of Amun’. ⁵⁰ The title of wrt h̬nrt was held by many royal family members in the New Kingdom including Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, Nefertari, Tia, and Bananit I, daughter of Ramesses II. Later in the Third Intermediate Period, the wives or daughters of the ‘High Priest of Amun’ held this title. ⁵¹ Šm‘yt of a specific god participated in playing sistra, clapping hands, and singing, and wrt h̬nrt of a specific god, in this case Amun and Min, was a musician singing and dancing with sistra and menats taking part in the temple service. ⁵² Tjuyu and her husband have a strong relationship with the cult of Min, indicating that Akhmim was their hometown. ⁵³ The link of the royal female (Tjuyu is mwt nsw n ḥmt nsw wrt) with the cult of the fertility god Min is attested since the Old Kingdom onward. ⁵⁴

The scribe used one term, šȜbty, out of the three known terms (šȜbtyw/šȜbty, šȜwȜbty, and wšbty) which are designated for the shabtis, ⁵⁵ to indicate this type of funerary statuette, compared to the fourteen inscribed shabtis of Yuya on which the scribe used šȜbty and šȜwȜbty. ⁵⁶ The term šȜbty is probably derived from a word meaning ‘stick’. ⁵⁷ Moreover, the shabti spell in the Coffin Texts states that it should be uttered over a figure which is made of wood. ⁵⁸ The four shabtis are made of wood and covered with golden and silver foils. Three or four craftspeople probably took part in the production of these shabtis. The details of the striated wigs from the back differ from one to other (figs 3–5) as does the presence of bracelets on the wrist (CG 51037–8, figs 2–3).

Two of Tjuyu’s shabtis are covered with gold foil (CG 51039–40) according to the early publications, ⁵⁹ though this is not based on chemical analysis. The foil is more likely to be a gold-silver-copper alloy. ⁶⁰ Gold was a native metal, mined from the Eastern Desert moving south to the Sudan border. It came from three main gold regions and is known as ‘gold of Koptos’, ‘gold of Wawat’, and ‘gold of Kush’. ⁶¹ The significance of gold comes from its yellow colour representing the flesh of the gods and the divine bodies, and it evokes the sun, and is a symbol of life, growth, and immortality. ⁶² The other two shabtis (CG 51037–8) are covered with silver foil; they might be the only two shabtis which were covered with silver foil in the Eighteenth Dynasty, as silver was imported from abroad. Egypt at this time obtained this metal via trade/tribute from the Levant, Anatolia, and the Aegean. The value of silver was higher than gold before the New Kingdom, as it was rare and was not procured in Egypt. ⁶³ Even royal silver statuettes were rare. Silver represents the lunar disc and was linked to the moon. ⁶⁴

Two shabtis of Tjuyu, CG 51038–9, differ from the fourteen inscribed shabtis of her husband, Yuya, insofar as that the spells end with her titles. This is not attested in Yuya’s shabtis except his magical statuette (CG 51035) ⁶⁵ on which he held the title ‘ḥsy n ntr-nfr favourite of the perfect god, Yiw, justified’. Furthermore, the four faces are gilded without any pigments marking the eyes, eyeballs, and the eyebrow. ⁶⁶ The features of the gilded faces of her husband’s statuettes were marked by different colours (CG 51030–2, MMA 30.8.56). ⁶⁷

The scribe used three styles of hieroglyphs according to the classification of H. G. Fischer which are attested on Tjuyu’s shabtis: (1) the less cursive forms, (2) the incised hieroglyphs/semi-cursive hieroglyphs (CG 51037–40), and (3) the more cursive (CG 51037, CG 51039–40). ⁶⁸ The common style on these shabtis is the ‘incised hieroglyphs’ including (table 1): A1, kȜ (D28), w (G43), m (G17), i̓ (M17), n (N35) (except CG 51038), š (N37) (CG 51039), p (Q3), mn (Y5), nb (V30), and k (V31); this is a simplification for the style ‘less cursive hieroglyphic forms’. ⁶⁹ This style was used in the early Eighteenth Dynasty down to the Amarna Period, especially on metal and wood, and had been known since the Old Kingdom. ⁷⁰ The scribe probably used this style to spend less time and effort in writing than they would have using, for example, the less cursive forms, or the scribe ‘was not in the position to execute detailed or ornate hieroglyphs’. ⁷¹ The close investigation for the forms and the palaeography of the signs (A1, A2, A53, B1, D4, D28, D33, D40, G17, N37, Q3, V28, V30) on the three shabtis (CG 51038–40) indicate three different scribes (table 1), though the general appearance might indicate the same handwriting. CG 51037–8 seem to be probably written by the same scribe, though the low-resolution available image (fig. 2) does not help to verify this assumption.

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Table 1.

The handwriting in the shabtis of Tjuyu (CG 51038–40) and the shabti of Yuya (CG 51033).

The scribes also used the more cursive n (CG 51037, CG 51039–40) which precedes the hieratic, i.e., the more cursive form (table 1). 7 (V13) is written with a diacritic tick. The sun-disc (N5, CG 51040 line 8) was incised in hieratic. These indicate that the scribes were more familiar with the hieratic script than with hieroglyphs. The study of the different shabtis of Yuya and Tjuyu shows that the scribes tend to use the incised hieroglyphs/semi-cursive on the gold, silver, and copper foils rather than on wood. This feature is attested on the four shabtis of Tjuyu and on the shabti of Yuya which is made of wood and covered by a copper foil (CG 51033, table 1).

To conclude, the shabtis of Tjuyu are unique in being made of gold and silver foils on wood, compared with the shabtis of her husband and the shabtis of other women in the New Kingdom (particularly the Eighteenth Dynasty) which were made of wood or faience. The shabtis of Tjuyu and Yuya do not carry hoes or agriculture equipment, compared with the other elite females and males from the same period including Lady Henut-wedjebu, Lady Sati, and Lady Kai-neferu. A possible explanation is that these tools were found inside the burial chamber (CG 51134–63, MMA 30.8.60–4). The style of the inscription also differs from these shabtis, as Tjuyu’s shabtis were incised with ‘semi-cursive hieroglyphs’ which is not attested on the other female owned shabtis or Yuya’s shabtis (the latter with one exception: CG 51033). The titles of Tjuyu indicate her strong relationship with Min of Akhmim, as is the case with her husband Yuya, and with Amun, Hathor, and the sovereign, Amenhotep III (hkrt nsw, ḥst nt ntr-nfr). Her titles were also recorded at the end of the spells on two of her shabtis which was not attested on the shabtis of Yuya nor the aforementioned shabtis of the females. Future work on the shabtis of Tjuyu and CG 51033 of Yuya might benefit from a focus on the chemical analysis of the metal and the damage in cooperation with colleagues from the Department of Conservation at Cairo Museum.