Ushabti of Pharaoh Taharqa, Sudan, Napata Period, Dynasty XXV of Ancient Egypt, Reign of Taharqa, c. 690 – 664 BC. Quartzite. Height 24.6 cm. Bagot Arqueología - Ancient Art at Brafa Art Fair, Brussels, 21-29 january 2017. 

This ushabti of the Pharaoh Taharqa belongs to the series of one thousand and seventy “answerers” found inside his pyramid in Nubia. The Egyptian influence is manifest, although the features are somewhat crude. The figure is wearing a “nemes” headdress (a headdress of white material adorned with stripes dyed in blue, a substitute for a crown. It is a light and comfortable covering of the whole of the head, falling vertically from behind the ears, and then tied in a knot near the nape of the neck, in the form of a plait. The figure has a “uraeus” on the forehead and is wearing a false beard. A scepter and a scourge are held in the hands crossed over the chest. There is also an inscription of nine lines on the body with text from Chapter VI of “The Book of the Dead”, dedicated to magic formulas for ushabtis.

The ushabti figures (those who answered) were figurines that were buried in tombs so that they could “respond” to a call from Osiris, when the latter demanded that the owner of the tomb perform certain manual labour in the afterlife. Apart from the fact that they held hoes and baskets like any labourer, the shaping of these figures imitated the features of the mummy of the deceased. The tomb of Taharqa contained one thousand and seventy stone ushabtis, which, in their time, had been lined up along the walls of the chambers and passageways in columns two or three deep. Ushabtis first appeared in the Middle Kingdom and the usual practice was to bury the deceased with 365 of them, one for each day of the year, grouped in squads commanded by 36 overseers. The large number of ushabtis in this case is quite remarkable. Moreover, as well as being of many different types and sizes, all these figures were carefully carved from veined marble, syenite, serpentine, green ankerite, quartzite, translucent calcite or alabaster. As they were the property of a monarch, some carry hoes and baskets, others appear with utensils characteristic of a king: sceptres and staves. Some have their heads covered with bag-form wigs while others wear the imperial headdress called “nemes”. All of them have the same text from Chapter VI of the Book of the Dead engraved on the body.

In the beginning the kings of Kush were buried in beds placed on platforms of stone inside their pyramids. These structures were based on private Egyptian tombs from the New Kingdom. Taharqa introduced more Egyptian-style elements like mummification, coffins and sarcophagi of Egyptian origin, as well as the use of the ushabti figurines.

During Dynasty XXV there was a nostalgic return to artistic forms of the past, particularly forms from the Middle and the New Kingdom. The use of stone for royal statuary and the sculptural style are the best examples of this tendency. To be precise, the ushabti figurines of the pharaoh with the somewhat rough carving of the body, the facial features and the use of obsolete versions of inscribed text, all reflect the influence of models that date from the Middle and New Kingdoms.

Tahaqa was the brother of Shebitko, the preceding king, and was the son of Pye, the Nubian king of Napata who conquered Egypt and founded the Dynasty XXV. It was during his reign that his enemies, the governors of Assyria, invaded Egypt. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, lead various campaigns against Taharqa, invading Egypt in the seventeenth year of the reign of the pharaoh, and sacked Memphis, capturing a number of the members of the royal family. Taharqa fled to the south, and Esarhaddon reorganized the political structure in the north, placing Necho I, of Dynasty XXVI, on the throne as king at Sais. 

However, after the Assyrian king’s departure from the country, Taharqa intrigued in the affairs of Lower Egypt and fanned numerous revolts. Esarhaddon died before returning to Egypt, and it was left to his son and heir, Ashurbanipal, to once again invade Egypt. Ashurbanipal defeated Taharqa, who afterwards fled to Thebes where he died after the 26 years of his reign. He designated Tantamani, a son of Shabaka, as his successor. Taharqa was buried at Nuri in northern Sudan. 

Provenance: The family of M. Mustafa Abdalla Babeker, Khartoum, Sudan, 1917 - 1930. Collection of Don C. Bes, 1930. Private European collection, 1940. From the archaeological work at the pyramid of Taharqa, the royal necropolis of Nuri, Nubia.

J. Bagot Arqueología - Ancient Art - Classical and Egyptian Antiquities. Consell de Cent 278, 08007 Barcelona, Spain