Skip Navigation

Winged Scarab

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

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

Nets made of faience beadwork became a fashionable feature of mummy wrappings in the Late Period. Faience amulets formed part of the beadwork pattern and served to protect the mummy through their magical properties. This scarab is one of the finer examples of such amulets. It served as a substitute heart that would ensure continued existence in the hereafter.

CULTURE Egyptian
MEDIUM Faience
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES ca. 712–342 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY second half of Dynasty 25 to Dynasty 30
    PERIOD Third Intermediate Period to Late Period
    DIMENSIONS 49.28a (Scarab): 7/8 × 1 5/8 × 2 1/2 in. (2.2 × 4.2 × 6.4 cm) 49.28b (Wing): 3/16 × 1 3/8 × 3 13/16 in. (0.5 × 3.5 × 9.7 cm) 49.28c (Wing): 3/16 × 1 5/16 × 3 13/16 in. (0.5 × 3.3 × 9.7 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 49.28a-c
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Light blue faience scarab (A) with separate wings (B&C). Base of scarab uninscribed and pierced seven times for attachment, wings of body grooved, forepart of body outlined in purple glaze (mostly lost), body and legs in very high relief. Each wing pierced three times. Details of wings inlaid in dark purple glaze on upper surface. Under surface of wing C has unfinished incised wing design. Condition: Intact. Purple glaze inlay considerably deteriorated. Scattered specks of gold over surface of wings.
    CAPTION Egyptian. Winged Scarab, ca. 712–342 B.C.E. Faience, 49.28a (Scarab): 7/8 × 1 5/8 × 2 1/2 in. (2.2 × 4.2 × 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 49.28a-c. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 49.28a_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 49.28a_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "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.