Abstract
The idea and experience of an image that can stand in for the depicted entity in one way or another is of central importance throughout human history. In ancient Egypt more specifically, one can distinguish between images that make the depicted entity present in a particular time, place and manner (including eliciting relations to other depicted entities), images that seek to cause a change in the depicted entity, and "substituting" images in the narrower sense of images that attract negative influences or allow the depicted entity to avoid unpleasant situations. The latter category turns out on closer scrutiny to be very rare in Egyptian image practices, and in fact is mostly associated with the traditional understanding of shabti-figurines as stand-ins for their owner in the afterlife. This talk explores the history of the Egyptological shabti-concept examining its various presuppositions, before raising the question of how we might understand the phenomenon of multiple Osirian images of a tomb owner from the point of view of image ontologies.
Knowledge of ancient Egyptian essential.
