<em>Aper Amulet</em>, ca. 664–30 B.C.E. Agate (?)
Faience [August 2023 Label Refresh Project], 1 1/2 x 9/16 in. (3.9 x 1.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 08.480.143. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.08.480.143_wwgA-3.jpg)

Aper Amulet, ca. 664–30 B.C.E. Agate (?) Faience [August 2023 Label Refresh Project], 1 1/2 x 9/16 in. (3.9 x 1.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 08.480.143. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.08.480.143_wwgA-3.jpg)

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Aper Amulet

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 Agate (?) Faience [August 2023 Label Refresh Project]

Place Made: Egypt

DATES ca. 664–30 B.C.E.

PERIOD Late Period to Ptolemaic Period

DIMENSIONS 1 1/2 x 9/16 in. (3.9 x 1.4 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 08.480.143

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

PROVENANCE Archaeological provenance not yet documented; by 1893, acquired 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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EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor

CAPTION Aper Amulet, ca. 664–30 B.C.E. Agate (?) Faience [August 2023 Label Refresh Project], 1 1/2 x 9/16 in. (3.9 x 1.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 08.480.143. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.08.480.143_wwgA-3.jpg)

IMAGE installation, West Wing gallery A-3 installation, CUR.08.480.143_wwgA-3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2005

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