Ring Depicting Isis and Horus

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE)

Egyptian

One side of this ring bears the title of a priest of Thoeris named Horemakhbit. The other side shows Isis wearing her tall horned headdress and seated on a throne nursing Horus, surrounded by flowers that represent the papyrus marsh in which she sheltered her son. The name Horemakhbit means “Horus in the Marsh”; therefore the image of Isis and Horus is a visual pun of the priest’s name.

Status: On View, Gallery 50
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Ancient Egyptian
Title: Ring Depicting Isis and Horus
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.: 305 BCE–30 BCE
Medium: Gold
Inscriptions: The priest of Taweret, Hor-[em]-akhbet.
Dimensions: 1.6 × 2.2 × 2 cm (5/8 × 7/8 × 13/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson
Reference Number: 1894.960
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. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/140634/manifest.json

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1923), p. 111 (ill.).
Roberta Casagrande-Kim, ed., When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra. Exh. cat. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), p. 78, fig. 5-8 (image on reverse of ring pictured), p. 98, cat. 83.

Art Institute of Chicago, When the Greeks Ruled: Egypt After Alexander the Great, October 31, 2013 - July 27, 2014; traveled to New York City, NY, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, October 8, 2014 - January 4, 2015.
Art Institute of Chicago, Life and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, Feb. 11, 2022 - present.

Reverend Chauncey Murch (1859-1907), Luxor, Egypt; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1894; price reimbursed by Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson, 1894.

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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.

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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. Learn more.

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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.

Learn more.