An Egyptian Faience Amulet of Lion-headed Goddess, 21st Dynasty , ca. 1069 - 945 BCE
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This finely modeled turquoise-blue faience amulet depicts a seated lion-headed goddess holding a shrine-shaped sistrum upon her knee. Although at first glance the figure appears to represent Sekhmet, the presence of the sistrum, an instrument strongly associated with Bastet and cultic music, complicates the identification. This ambiguity reflects a well-known issue in Third Intermediate Period amuletic iconography, in which leonine and feline goddesses frequently overlap in form and symbolism.
Carol Andrews (Andrews, C. Amulets of Ancient Egypt (London: British Museum Press, 1994), pp. 33–34, figs. 30a,d ISBN 9780714109763) discusses this specific amuletic type and notes the difficulty of securely identifying such figures, even when inscriptions are present. She observes that examples of this group are typically rendered in two-coloured glaze and seated upon elaborate openwork thrones whose sides are formed by the sinuous body of the snake god Nehebkau. The detailed sistrum suggests that the figure may represent Bastet in her earlier, more fearsome leonine aspect rather than the later domestic cat form more commonly associated with the goddess.
The present example is particularly refined, with carefully articulated features and an unusually well-preserved glaze. The compact scale and suspension loop indicate that it was intended for personal devotional or protective use.
Medium: Faience
Dimensions: Height: 3/4 inch (1.9 cm.)
Condition: The amulet is intact and in very good condition overall.
Provenance: Nora Scott (July 14, 1905 – April 4, 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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