Skip Navigation

Ritual Object

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: 19th Dynasty to Roman Period, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

This object is seen in temple reliefs in which the king offers it to goddesses like Hathor, Sakhmet, Mut, or Bastet who are called the Eye of Re. As the Eye of Re, each of these deities symbolized a number of ideas, including the destructive power of the sun god. In return for this offering, the king was assured of protection and the power needed to maintain cosmic order, or Ma'at. He also received the gift of a uraeus for his crown, a symbol of the same forces embodied in the Eye of Re. The cycle of giving, receiving, and giving in return ritually affirmed that the king's possession of royal power was confirmed and renewed.

MEDIUM Faience
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES ca. 664–30 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 26, or later
    PERIOD Late Period to Ptolemaic Period
    DIMENSIONS 4 1/16 x 2 1/4 x 1 11/16 in. (10.3 x 5.7 x 4.3 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 36.838
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    PROVENANCE Archaeological provenance not yet documented; between1897 and 1908, acquired by Frederick George Hilton Price of London, United Kingdom; between 1909 and 1922, provenance not yet documented; by 1922, acquired by Reverend William MacGregor of Liverpool, England; June 26-July 6, 1922, probably sold at Sotheby’s London, “Catalogue of the MacGregor Collection of Egyptian Antiquities”, lot 791 or 813; between 1922 and 1926, provenance not yet documented; by 1926, acquired by Lord Thomas David Gibson-Carmichael, 1st Baron Carmichael; June 8-10, 1926, sold at Sotheby’s London, “The Lord Carmichael Collection”, lot 276; between 1926 and 1936, provenance not yet documented; by 1936, acquired by Dikran Kelekian of New York; 1936, purchased from Dikran Kelekian by the Brooklyn Museum.
    Provenance FAQ
    CAPTION Ritual Object, ca. 664–30 B.C.E. Faience, 4 1/16 x 2 1/4 x 1 11/16 in. (10.3 x 5.7 x 4.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 36.838. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.36.838_wwg8.jpg)
    IMAGE installation, West Wing gallery 8 installation, CUR.36.838_wwg8.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.