Silver Goddess or Queen

Fashioned from silver and once adorned with a lustrous covering of gold, this elegant plaque portrays a mysterious female figure, perhaps a goddess or a queen of Egypt’s Ptolemaic dynasty. She wears a delicately worked feathered headdress and garment, complemented by an intricately engraved broad collar. A small attachment hole suggests that the plaque was originally affixed to a wooden shrine or ceremonial furnishing.

The piece belongs to Egypt’s final royal dynasty, established by Ptolemy I, a Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, and brought to an end with the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 B.C. Although Greek by ancestry, the Ptolemaic monarchs embraced many of Egypt’s ancient traditions, presenting themselves as legitimate heirs to the pharaohs.

Royal women were increasingly portrayed in the divine likeness of goddesses, particularly Isis and Hathor, whose associations with motherhood, fertility, protection and kingship complemented the sacred authority of the queen. The distinction between mortal sovereign and divine being could become deliberately blurred, making the identification of uninscribed female portraits especially difficult.

Could this be Cleopatra IV?

Whilst Cleopatra VII remains the most celebrated bearer of the name, she was preceded by a succession of royal women named Cleopatra. Seven are conventionally numbered in the Ptolemaic dynasty, although the identity and numbering of Cleopatra VI remain subjects of scholarly debate.

The Brooklyn Museum tentatively suggests that this plaque may represent Cleopatra IV, a queen whose brief and turbulent life unfolded during the 2nd century B.C. Such an attribution is possible within the broader Ptolemaic tradition of portraying royal women with divine attributes, although the figure’s identity cannot be established from the surviving details alone.

Cleopatra IV: A Forgotten Queen

Born around 138–135 B.C., Cleopatra IV was a daughter of Ptolemy VIII and the formidable Cleopatra III. She married her brother, Ptolemy IX Soter II, and briefly held the position of queen consort following his accession in 116 B.C.

Her fortunes changed dramatically when her mother, Cleopatra III, compelled Ptolemy IX to divorce her in favour of their younger sister, Cleopatra Selene, around 115 B.C.

Unwilling to surrender her political ambitions, Cleopatra IV gathered military support and turned towards the Seleucid kingdom of Syria, where she married Antiochus IX. There, however, she became entangled in another bitter dynastic struggle, this time against her own sister, Tryphaena, wife of the rival Seleucid king Antiochus VIII.

According to ancient accounts, Cleopatra IV sought refuge in a sanctuary near Antioch, only to be killed on her sister’s orders in 112 B.C. She was probably still in her twenties.

Whether this gilded figure preserves the likeness of that ill-fated queen, another royal woman, or a goddess in her own right remains an intriguing mystery of Ptolemaic art.

Summary:

Silver Plaque of Goddess or Queen (perhaps Cleopatra IV)

Ptolemaic Period, 305–30 B.C.

Material: Gold-plated repoussé silver

Dimensions: 40 × 22.9 × 2.5 cm

Origin: Possibly collected in the Nile Delta. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 44.120