These amulets represent the wedjat (also spelled udjat) eye, the eye of the god Horus. Because Horus was depicted as a falcon (see cat. 22) or a man with a falcon head, his eye was also hybrid in form. It has the almond shape of a human eye rather than the round shape of a bird, and it has the markings of the falcon, with the feathering behind it—usually shown as a spiral and a vertical line descending from the eyeball—yet with a human eyebrow and a long cosmetic line at the eye’s outer edge. The wedjat eye can be shown as either the left or right eye, with the left being associated with the moon (see cat. 29) and the right with the sun. This form of amulet is known from the late Old Kingdom and continued to be made into the Roman Period.^[1]1

The wedjat eye conveyed the condition of good health or wholeness, a reference to a myth in which Horus battled his uncle Seth to avenge the death of his father, Osiris. In the battle, Horus was blinded and his sight restored by the ibis-headed Thoth, the god of wisdom (see cats. 82–83). The magic of the eye of Horus was so powerful that Osiris was revived when Horus offered it to him. The general association of the eye with well-being led to it being shown almost everywhere in Egyptian iconography, including at the top of stelae, on coffins, and on jewelry (see cats. 8, 68, 99–100, 107). As amulets, wedjat eyes were produced in a range of materials, including metal (as with these gold examples), stone, faience, and glass.^[2]2

This set of gold wedjat eyes were each made of two sheets of gold that were probably pressed into a mold to produce the overall design. The sheets were then joined, perhaps with solder, to make a double-sided eye. A flattened rim on both edges of the eye, just above the inner canthus and at the end of the cosmetic line, surrounds the piercing that would accommodate a cord or thread to allow the amulet to be strung as jewelry or attached to a mummy.3

The cosmetic line and eyebrow have a scored, chevron pattern. The pupil is flattened at the top, and the vertical element that descends from the eye has been truncated. The eye has been coated with a reddish-brown pigment, leaving the raised areas bright gold with a tinge of red, while the recessed areas are red brown, creating a contrast between the two areas.^[3]4

Additional Views of Cat. 93a

Additional Views of Cat. 93b

Additional Views of Cat. 93c

For more on amulets, see About Amulets.5

Provenance

93a–c.
Reverend Chauncey Murch (1859–1907), Luxor, Egypt; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1894.6

Publication History

93a.
Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 127. 7

93b.
Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 127.8

Roberta Casagrande-Kim, ed., When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, with contributions by Mary C. Greuel et al. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 2014), 102, no. 109.9

93c.
Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 127.10

Roberta Casagrande-Kim, ed., When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, with contributions by Mary C. Greuel et al. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 2014), 102, no. 110.
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