In Tutankhamun's time,
funerary figures resembling
mummies, but with the head and neck exposed, were
known by the name
shawabty, perhaps because they were originally
made of wood from the persea tree, called in
Egyptian shawab. Their purpose was to act as
substitutes for their deceased owner, or to be his
servants, when he required to undertake agricultural
work in the next world. The number buried with one
person varied greatly; Tutankhamun had 413. In some
tombs there were 401, one figure for each day of the
year and thirty-six foremen to control groups of ten
figures. This wooden figure, made in the likeness of
Tutankhamun holding the crook and flail of Osiris,
was a funerary gift from the General Minnakht.