The Shabtis of Tjuyu (CG 51037–51040)

Abstract

This paper investigates the shabtis of Tjuyu (CG 51037–51040), the wife of the ‘god’s father’, Yuya, and mother of Queen Tiye, the wife of the famous King Amenhotep III. In my previous article in JEA 107, I investigated the shabtis of her husband Yuya which are kept at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (CG 51024–34, CG 51036) and the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art in New York (MMA 30.8.56–30.8.58). In this paper, I explore the state of preservation of Tjuyu’s shabtis, as they have not been studied since the discovery of the tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu (KV46) in 1905, as well as their inscriptions which were not copied, and their form, decoration, and manufacture. A comparison with the shabtis of Yuya will further highlight the differences regarding the materials, methods of manufacture, and the style of inscriptions.