Object 26: Ancient Egyptian Treasures
These little clay figures are about three thousand years old and were found at the Ramesseum in Egypt. They are Ushabti, small human models that were placed inside tombs in the belief that they would act as servants to work for the deceased in the afterlife. They are examples of faience, a type of ceramic material made from powdered quartz, often coloured blue-green. Faience typically has a vitreous (glass-like) surface and was widely used in Egypt for making beads, amulets and other small objects. All three of these figures were found by James Quibbell, assistant to the famous archaeologist, William Flinders Petrie, at Ramesseum in 1895-1896.
The Ramesseum was the memorial temple of Ramesses II, located across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor. The temple measured 600 feet by 220 feet and was decorated with scenes of the battle of Kadesh and inscribed with descriptions of the battle victories of Ramesses III. There were many statues, including a colossal statue of Ramesses II which inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley to write ‘Ozymandias’. Flinders Petrie and his assistant, James Quibbell, carried out excavations at Ramesseum from 1895 to 1896 and it is possible that these Ushabti figures were amongst the funerary goods found in burial chambers in the north-west corner of the temple complex. The burial chambers were empty, apart from a heap of funerary goods found in the entrance shaft (presumably removed from one of the chambers). It seems likely that these three Ushabti figures were part of this find, as Petrie is known to have given some of the objects to his supporters back in England.
These Ushabti are just three examples from the Egyptian collection in the Charterhouse Museum, many of which were given to the School in the late 19th century by the Egypt Exploration Fund.
Flinders Petrie excavating at the Ramesseum, Dec 1895. Watercolour by Henry Wallis. Original owned by UCL
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