An Egyptian Diorite Heart Amulet pendant, Late Period, ca. 664 - 332 BCE

Among the most important protective amulets of ancient Egypt, the ib, or heart amulet, represented far more than the physical organ. The Egyptians regarded the heart as the seat of the mind, intelligence, character, conscience, and ultimately as an expression of the individual's moral identity. The amulet itself takes the form of the hieroglyph ib, based upon the physical form of a bull's heart. As Rogério Sousa has demonstrated, its predominant meaning was therefore not anatomical but symbolic, representing the mind and the individual's relationship with ma'at, the Egyptian concept of truth, justice, and cosmic order.

This finely carved example is fashioned from mottled diorite, an exceptionally hard stone with a long tradition of prestigious use in Egypt. Its hardness made it considerably more labor-intensive to carve, grind, and polish than the softer stones and materials commonly employed for amulets, requiring considerable time and technical skill. The choice of diorite for an object of such diminutive scale therefore represents a significant investment in material and workmanship.

Heart amulets acquired an increasingly funerary significance from the Ramesside Period onward and became particularly widespread during the Late Period. In Late Period versions of the Book of the Dead, the heart amulet became a regular attribute of the deceased in the so-called cardiac vignettes. By the first millennium B.C., its symbolism had expanded to encompass new life, rebirth and protection, and during the Late Period heart amulets were produced on a much greater scale. Sousa associates their increasingly widespread use with an apotropaic power founded upon purity, protecting against evil while promoting well-being in both this world and the next.

cf: Sousa, R. (2007). The Meaning of the Heart Amulets in Egyptian Art. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 43, 59-70. 

Medium: Diorite, gold

Dimensions: Pendant height (with bail): 1 1/8 inch (2.9 cm)

Condition: The pendant is intact and in excellent condition overall.

Provenance: Nora Scott (1905 – 1994), Curator of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (retired 1972), and acquired from the Metropolitan Museum of Art by deaccession. Gifted to L. Virginia Burton (1918–2009), Associate Curator of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (retired 1977), and then by descent.

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