Brooklyn Museum: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art: Fertility Figurine

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Fertility Figurine

Statuettes of naked women with incomplete legs, like this example, have been found in Middle Kingdom tombs and houses. Early Egyptologists mistakenly identified them as concubines intended to provide the spirits of men with an eternity of sexual pleasure.

Recent studies show that both men and women used these figures to ensure fertility. In the home, they were believed to enhance a wife's fruitfulness and a husband's potency by invoking Hathor, the goddess of sexual love. As tomb offerings, they guaranteed the deceased's sexual power in the afterlife.

Medium: Faience
Place Made: Egypt
Dates: ca. 1938-1630 B.C.E.
Dynasty: XII Dynasty-early XIII Dynasty
Period: Middle Kingdom
Dimensions: 1 15/16 x 13/16 in. (5 x 2 cm)
Collections: Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Middle Eastern Art
Museum Location: This item is on view in Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity, Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
Accession Number: 44.226
Credit Line: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Image: Overall, 44.226_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph