Red Crown as Amulet, ca. 664–30 B.C.E. Faience, 1 1/2 x 7/8 in. (3.8 x 2.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.580.48. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.16.580.48_wwgA-3.jpg)
Red Crown as Amulet, ca. 664–30 B.C.E. Faience, 1 1/2 x 7/8 in. (3.8 x 2.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.580.48. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , CUR.16.580.48_16.580.51_mummychamber.jpg)
Red Crown as 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
Faience
DATES
ca. 664–30 B.C.E.
PERIOD
Late Period to Ptolemaic Period
DIMENSIONS
1 1/2 x 7/8 in. (3.8 x 2.2 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
16.580.48
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father Charles Edwin Wilbour
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is on view in Funerary Gallery 2, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor
CAPTION
Red Crown as Amulet, ca. 664–30 B.C.E. Faience, 1 1/2 x 7/8 in. (3.8 x 2.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.580.48. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.16.580.48_wwgA-3.jpg)
IMAGE
installation, West Wing gallery A-3 installation, CUR.16.580.48_wwgA-3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2005
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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