Menat Aegis with the Heads of Shu and Tefnut

Possible OriginHeliopolis, Egypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period

Date772-332 BCE

MediumBronze

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions3 5/16 x 1 1/2 x 11/16 in., 48 g (8.4 x 3.8 x 1.7 cm, 1 11/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.530

Label TextMenat counterweights were part of elaborate beaded collars to keep them in place. Priests and priestesses invoked deities by rattling the collar’s beads, which provided a pleasing sound.

The Menat shield takes the form of an aegis, composed of a broad collar surmounted by the heads of Tefnut (goddess of moisture) and her consort Shu (god of air). They are two of the nine deities that formed the Great Ennead of Heliopolis, ruled by the creator god Atum who created the world. Tefnut appears as a maned lioness wearing a wig, sun disk, and a uraeus. Shu wears a short wig, false beard, and crown with a modius, uraeus, and tall feathers (now partially destroyed). Together, Shu and Tefnut protected the wearer of the necklace. Cobra serpents flank the part of the counterpoise with an oxyrhynchus fish, associated with Osiris and resurrection, in a papyrus thicket.
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 33.

ProvenanceEx coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California, possibly purchased from Jean-François Mignon, Aix-en Provence, France.

Status

Not on view

Collections