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Amulet of Sekhmet

A work made of faience.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of faience.

Date:

Third Intermediate Period (about 1069–664 BCE)

Artist:

Egyptian

About this artwork

With the head of a lion and the idealized figure of a woman, this amulet depicts a powerful ancient Egyptian goddess. Ancient Egyptians—both living and dead—wore amulets of gods and goddesses to bring protection and health. These included depictions of deities in their human, animal, or mixed forms.

This amulet represents one of several goddesses who appeared in a hybrid leonine-human form, likely Sekhmet, a goddess of pestilence and divine violence. In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet acted as the Eye of Re, the daughter and protector of the sun god, Re. She had the ability to make enemies fall sick or heal those who were afflicted, so she would have provided the wearer of this amulet with protection from disease and other dangerous forces.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of Africa

Artist

Ancient Egyptian

Title

Amulet of Sekhmet

Place

Egypt (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

c. 1069 BCE–664 BCE

Medium

Faience

Dimensions

7.8 × 1.7 × 2.7 cm (3 1/8 × 11/16 × 1 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Charles L. Hutchinson, Henry H. Getty, and Norman W. Harris

Reference Number

1892.58

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/135838/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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