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Pectoral with Scarab

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor
Living persons wore only one or a few amulets at a time, but mummies usually bear many amulets. The Ma’at amulet (no. 2) and heart scarabs (nos. 1, 3, 11), which occurred in many forms, guaranteed a successful judgment of the dead. The amulets of a hand (no. 8), lungs and a windpipe (no. 12), and wadjet-eyes (i.e., “healthy” eyes; no. 4) protected those parts of the body and also had connotations of resurrection and the unity or integrity of the mummy. The enigmatic aper amulet (no. 13) takes the form of the hieroglyph meaning “to be equipped,” perhaps in reference to the mummy’s preparation. The two crowns (nos. 5, 6) were symbols of power. The Heh insignia (no. 7), like the popular ankh-sign, denoted eternal life. Among the living, the frog (no. 9) and possibly also the hare (no. 10) suggested fertility. The amulets of the Four Sons of Horus (no. 15) perhaps served, as they did with canopic jars, to protect various organs of the body.
MEDIUM Faience
  • Place Collected: Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1539–1295 B.C.E. or later
    DYNASTY Dynasty 18
    PERIOD New Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 4 1/16 x 3 11/16 x 3/8 in. (10.3 x 9.4 x 1 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 08.480.159
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    PROVENANCE Archaeological provenance not yet documented; before March 16, 1896, purchased in Egypt by Armand de Potter of Belgium and New York, NY; 1905, inherited from Armand de Potter by Amy Beckwith (Mrs. Aimee S. de Potter) of New York, NY and Asheville, NC; 1908, purchased from Amy Beckwith by the Brooklyn Museum.
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    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Pectoral in green faience, with a scarab in purplish-blue faience. Form of a naos with projecting cornice. Front, painted solar bark with Nephthys (left) and Isis adoring the scarab. Names of goddesses and borders painted. Back, oval like bottom of scarab, painted with six lines of almost illegible inscription, flanked by two girdle knots. Back of cornice pierced four times at each end, with corresponding holes at the top of the cornice. Condition: Intact. Surface worn. Chip in base. Large crack in back due to defective firing. Inscription almost illegible.
    CAPTION Pectoral with Scarab, ca. 1539–1295 B.C.E. or later. Faience, 4 1/16 x 3 11/16 x 3/8 in. (10.3 x 9.4 x 1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 08.480.159. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.08.480.159_mummychamber.jpg)
    IMAGE installation, Egypt Reborn: Mummy Chamber Installation (2011), CUR.08.480.159_mummychamber.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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