This bronze statuette depicts Ptah, the Chief god of Memphis, patron of craftsmen and architects. In the Memphis triad, he is the husband of Sekhmet and the father of Nefertem. He was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep. A statue like this would have been housed in a wooden shrine; when the...
Molded faience amulet in the form of Nefertem or Nefertum, he is often defined as the god of perfumes but this association is secondary. Nefertem was, in fact, first and foremost, the young god of the lotus bud that emerged from the primordial waters, according to the Egyptian myth, and from which the sun was...
Amulet showing the head of the god Osiris, on his head he wears the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt on which the uraeus stands out. The cult and images of the god have undergone profound changes over time. For example, Osiris, lord of the underworld, is also included in the solar cycle: it is...
A statuette of the god Thoth depicted as an ibis. The body of this statuette is made of wood, which was covered with fine stucco. The head with the atef crown, the neck, the tail feathers and the legs are made of silver. The eyes are in stucco with black glass. Thoth, as the embodiment...
The Gayer-Anderson cat is a bronze figure depicting one form of the goddess Bastet. The goddess was usually shown as a cat-headed woman, or in the form of a cat. Her principal cult center was Bubastis in the Nile Delta. Bastet was a mother goddess and benign counterpart to the more aggressive lion goddess Sekhmet. The...
This signet ring belonging to a person call Sa-Neith, who held the following titles: ‘Prophet and Divine Father’, ‘Director of Chapels (of the goddess Neith)’, ‘Priest of Horus’, ‘He whose two Diadems are Great’, ‘Lord of the City of Letopolis (in the delta; possibly the city of origin of the owner of the ring)’. The...
The term hypocephalus refers to a piece of Late Period and Ptolemaic funerary equipment. It is specifically an amuletic disc made of cartonnage, bronze, textile, or rarely from papyrus and even wood, emulating a solar disc. It was made for Tasheritenkhonsu. Linen and plaster, inscribed in ink. It dates to the Late Period, 26th Dynasty,...
This statue represents the god Thoth in the form of a sitting ibis. The artist’s careful choice of materials, the bronze of the head and the white limestone of the body, give the statue the appearance of a real bird. The feathers of the body are in light relief while the tail, which is separate...
Bronze head of a cat represents goddess Bastet or Bast with inlaid amber eyes and a golden scarab on its forehead, it was part of a cat-shaped sarcophagus for a cat mummy, as a sacrifice to the goddess Bastet. The little feline lived in the houses, that’s why it was associated to the goddess Bastet,...
This papyrus column amulet, meant to be worn, carried, or offered to a deity in the belief that it will magically bestow a particular power or form of protection, depicts a papyrus scepter or column. This plant, named wadj, meaning “green” or “fresh”, and the choice of green-blue faience all strongly evoke vitality and regenerative...