Shabti box and shabtis of members of the Sennedjem tomb ca. 1279–1213 B.C. New Kingdom, Ramesside

Essential items of funerary equipment from the New Kingdom on, shabti figures, of which there could be from 1 to over 400 examples in a single tomb, were meant to substitute for the deceased whenever he or she was called upon to perform manual labour

in the afterlife. One example here is inscribed with a version of Spell 6 from the Book of Coming Forth by Day (better known as the Book of the Dead): "O, shabti. . . if I be summoned. . .to do any work which has to be done in the realm of the dead.