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Cat. 85 Amulet of a Leg and Foot, Late Old Kingdom–First Intermediate Period Cats. 86–87 Scarabs, Late Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom Cat. 88 Amulet of a Heart, New Kingdom Cat. 89 Amulet of a Left Eye, New Kingdom–Late Period Cat. 90 Tyet Amulet, Late Period Cat. 91 Winged Scarab Amulet, Late Period Cat. 92 Amulet of Two Fingers, Late Period Cat. 93 Eye of Horus Amulets, Ptolemaic Period Cat. 94 Double Crown Amulet, Ptolemaic Period Cat. 95 Djed Pillar Amulet, Ptolemaic Period

Cat. 92

Amulet of Two Fingers


Late Period (664–332 BCE)

Ancient Egyptian

Hematite; 9.9 × 2.7 × 1 cm (3 7/8 × 1 1/16 × 3/8 in.)

The Art Institute of Chicago, purchased with funds provided by Henry H. Getty, Charles L. Hutchinson, and Norman W. Harris, 1894.680

These two fingers represent the digits of an embalmer, who would have placed his hand over the embalming incision on the left flank of the mummy, healing the incision and granting protection upon the mummified person. This amulet shows the index and second fingers, complete with detailed fingernails, cuticles, and folds of skin over the joints. As with this example, these elegant amulets are usually carved of a dark stone, and they date to the Late Period.[1]1

Additional View of Cat. 92

Back of cat. 92.

For more on amulets, see About Amulets.2

Provenance

Reverend Chauncey Murch (1859–1907), Luxor, Egypt; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1894.3

Publication History

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 135.
4

Entry by

Notes

  1. Carol Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994), 85.

How to Cite

Emily Teeter, “Cat. 92 Amulet of Two Fingers,” in (Art Institute of Chicago, 2025), https://doi.org/10.53269/9780865593213/94.

© 2025 by The Art Institute of Chicago. This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

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