Beckers Collection (Aachen) - Usurped Funerary Figure for Jt.f – A Deep Publication of UB-006

This Deep Publication presents a comprehensive scholarly documentation of
ushabti UB-006, a large mummiform funerary figurine in painted terracotta
(red clay, white ground, polychrome decoration) dating to the 19th Dynasty
of the Egyptian New Kingdom (ca. 1292–1186 BCE), held in the Collection
Beckers, Aachen (inventory no. UB-006; secondary code U-512).

The object is remarkable for its clearly documented ancient usurpation: the
original, nearly body-encircling five-line primary inscription was erased in
antiquity and replaced by a secondary inscription enclosed in a red
rectangular frame. The usurper's name has been identified as Jt.f (jt=f,
"his father"; Ranke I, 50,13). Notably, the ntr-sign, likely part of the
title it-ntr (God's Father) of the original owner, was re-semanticised into
the divine name Wsir (Osiris) – an unusually refined act of epigraphic
reuse. The surviving secondary inscription gives an abbreviated version of
Book of the Dead Spell 6.

The object was first described in the Lempertz auction catalogue 622 (Cologne,
1987, lot 1647), where the cataloguer raised the question of ancient reuse.
It was acquired there by Prof. Hermann A. Schlögl (University of Zurich), who
confirmed the usurpation through autopsy and published it in Schlögl/Brodbeck,
Ägyptische Totenfiguren aus öffentlichen und privaten Sammlungen der Schweiz
(Zurich: University of Zurich, 1990), catalogue no. 74, p. 135.

The present Deep Publication comprises nine sections covering: catalogue entry,
usurpation as a phenomenon, historical context (19th Dynasty / Theban funerary
economy), object description and inscription, epigraphic analysis, technical
examination (UV fluorescence at 365 nm, complete documentation of all surfaces),
comparative catalogue, provenance, and references. The UV examination includes
a full photographic series of all object surfaces and provides direct material
evidence for the usurpation, including traces of the primary inscription
surviving beneath the covering layer on the back and sides of the figure, and
green-cyan fluorescence at the adhesive repair confirming the documented break.

Published in German and English. Corresponding concept DOI of UB-006 PDF: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18245544

H: 22.2 cm. Collection Beckers, Aachen. Inv. UB-006.