Skip Navigation

Cylindrical Amulet

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

The Egyptians worked with gold and semiprecious stones from earliest times. They mined both types of material in the desert east of the Nile and in present-day Sudan, called “Nubia” in ancient times after the ancient Egyptian word for gold (nub). Clearly, objects made from these high-value materials were available only to the highest ranks of society.
MEDIUM Gold, amethyst
  • Possible Place Made: Dashur, Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1938–1759 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 12
    PERIOD Middle Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 2 3/4 x 1/2 x 1/2 in. (7 x 1.3 x 1.3 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 51.226
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Cylindrical Amulet, ca. 1938–1759 B.C.E. Gold, amethyst, 2 3/4 x 1/2 x 1/2 in. (7 x 1.3 x 1.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 51.226. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 51.226_SL3.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 51.226_SL3.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.