Identifying ushabti figures

The mummiform servants of Egyptian burials — and their million imitations.

An ushabti is a small mummiform figure — arms crossed, often holding hoes, with a seed bag on the back — made to work in the afterlife on the owner's behalf. Materials include blue-green faience, wood, stone, and pottery; many carry hieroglyphic bands naming the deceased or quoting the ushabti spell.

Genuine ushabtis show period-consistent details: wig form, tool types, back pillars, and the faience's glassy-through-body structure. The tourist trade has produced imitations for two centuries — soft plaster, painted rather than glazed surfaces, mushy hieroglyphs that repeat no real text, and 'aged' coatings that rub off.

Egyptian antiquities carry heavy legal and ethical baggage: export laws are strict and provenance is everything. Record how and when the piece entered your family or collection, photograph inscriptions closely (real texts read; fake ones decorate), and invite expert eyes before claiming a dynasty.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on religious objects

Seals and seal matrices — Reading a reversed device.

Identifying pilgrim badges and ampullae — Lead-tin devotional souvenirs.

Identifying scarabs and amulets — Egyptian protective forms.

Identifying cuneiform tablets — Wedge-marks in clay.

Identifying reliquaries and devotional objects — Containers for the sacred — from enkolpia to house shrines.

Identifying icons and devotional art — Painted panels, brass travelling icons, and the grammar of sacred images.

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