Amulet Necklace

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period - Ptolemaic Period

Date722-30 BCE

MediumFaience, modern restringing

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions28 3/8 x 3/8 x 3/8 in., 12 g (72 x 0.9 x 0.9 cm, 7/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.171

Label TextAmulet necklaces served to endow the wearer with powers and capabilities. The ancient Egyptians believed amulets of gods and goddesses in human and animal forms were imbued with magical powers to safeguard the wearer.

This necklace was restrung in modern times. The amulet necklace is composed of multicolored faience beads with figurines of the goddess Isis seated with her son Horus, the cat-goddess Bastet, and the divine Memphite triad of the god Ptah, his leonine goddess Sekhmet, and their son Nefertum wearing his lotus headdress. Amulets of the god of wisdom, Thoth, as a baboon, and the hippopotamus household goddess Taweret complete the necklace. A similar bead and amulet necklace was found in a private house near the King’s Palace at Malqata, dating to the reign of Amenhotep III.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed. Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 12.

ProvenanceEx coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

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