ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Standard of Selket

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodThird Intermediate Period

Date1076-723 BCE

MediumBronze

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Teasley

Dimensions2 1/2 x 3 1/4 x 1 1/4 in. (6.4 x 8.3 x 3.2 cm)

Object number2005.005.005

Label TextThis bronze figure of a scorpion goddess, either Selket or Hededet, bears a small circular mark on its bottom indicating that it once was likely affixed to the top of a pole as a standard or decorative element. This rather strange form of the scorpion goddess, with a scorpion's body and woman's head is a late incarnation of her iconography. In the pharonic period, Selket in particular is more commonly represented as a woman with a scorpion on her head. Selket and another scorpion goddess Hededet are often invoked in spells to protect against the dangerous bites of venomous creatures native to Egypt such as scorpions and snakes. However, Selket is more commonly found as one of the four goddesses associated with the protection of the dead. She often appears in funerary contexts, along with Isis, Nepthys, and Neith as a guard of the corpse or the organs of the deceased. It is unclear which goddess is represented in this bonze and therefore it is unclear what role such a standard might have played in ancient Egypt. However, it is likely that such a pole with an embellished top may be carried as part of a ritual procession or other ritual act.
Exhibition HistoryFrom Pharaohs to Emperors: New Egyptian and Classical Antiquities at Emory, Michael C. Carlos Museum, January 14 - April 2, 2006
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation 2008 - January 2011
Monsters, Demons & Winged Beasts: Composite Creatures in the Ancient World, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 5 - June 19, 2011
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, June 20, 2011 - Present
Published ReferencesGunther Roeder, Agyptische Bronzefiguren (Berlin: Staatliche Museen, 1956), 456, number 623d, figure 690, plate 90a.
Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, Egyptian and Classical Antiquities Belonging to a Midwestern Museum (May 15, 1958), 7, lot 42.
Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, Important Classical, Egyptian and Western Asiatic Antiquities (May 19, 1979), lot 240.
Egyptian Antiquities from the Charles Pankow Collection (San Francisco: Van Doren Gallery, 1981), 14.
Jacques F. Aubert and Liliane Aubert, Bronzes et or Egyptiens (Paris: Cybele, 2001), 228.
Sotheby's, New York, The Charles Pankow Collection of Egyptian Art (Wednesday, December 8, 2004), 129, number 139.
Peter Lacovara and Jasper Gaunt, "From Pharaohs to Emperors: Egyptian, Near Eastern & Classical Antiquities at Emory," Minerva 17 (January/February 2006): 9-16.

ProvenanceEx coll. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, from at least 1956. With Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 15, 1958, lot 42. Ex coll. The Lannan Foundation. With Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, May 19, 1979, lot 240. Ex coll. Charles Pankow (1923-2004), San Francisco, California, from at least 1981. Purchased by MCCM from Sotheby's New York, December 8, 2004, lot 139.

Status

On view

Collections