© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Peter Harholdt.

ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Djed-Pillar

AAT Object Form/FunctionAmulets

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodThird Intermediate Period - Late Period

Date1076-332 BCE

MediumBronze

Credit LineGift of Edith Woodfin West

Dimensions7 3/8 x 2 1/16 in. (18.7 x 5.2 cm)

Object number1990.002.002

Label TextExamples of the djed-pillar have been found from as early as the Third Dynasty, although its origins remain a mystery. By the New Kingdom, the symbol was closely connected to Osiris and supposedly represented the backbone of the god. In both amuletic and linguistic usage, the djed conveyed the notion of endurance and stability.

Bronze figures and symbols such as this one were especially popular during the Third Intermediate Period and thereafter as embellishments for shrines or pieces of furniture. This example would probably have been inlaid into a larger composition, since there are no remains of tenons for mounting the djed onto another object.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 11, 1993 - March 2000
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2001 - Present
Published ReferencesEgyptian Sculpture XVII (London: Charles Ede Ltd., 1990), number 2.
Peter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, The Realm of Osiris (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2001), 16.

ProvenancePurchased by Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology from Charles Ede Ltd., London, England.

Status

On view

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