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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. 94

Double Crown Amulet


Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE)

Ancient Egyptian

Gold; 1.3 × 1 × 0.3 cm (1/2 × 3/8 × 1/8 in.)

The Art Institute of Chicago, purchased with funds provided by Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson, 1894.961

This tiny amulet represents the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt on a half-circle (the hieroglyph neb, 𓎟, that means “lord”), the composition reading “Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt.” The amulet is diminutive, yet it was made with precise workmanship; even the curled element on the front of the crown has an indentation to indicate its spiral. It was constructed in three parts: the Double Crown made of thick gold; a rectangular tab base that allowed it to be attached to the reverse of the neb sign, creating a double layer; and a small, gold suspension loop on the reverse (see fig. 1).1

Fig. 1


Back of cat. 94.

From the Middle Kingdom onward, groups of small-scale amulets were strung together to make necklaces and bracelets.[1] A group of small gold amulets similar to the Chicago example was discovered in a Dynasty 26 burial at Saqqara.[2]2

From the late New Kingdom onward, but especially during the Late through the Roman Periods, scenes of the king presenting the Double Crown on a neb sign to the gods(s) appeared in temple reliefs as an affirmation of the king’s legitimacy and the god(s)’s approval of his reign.
3

For more on amulets, see About Amulets.4

Provenance

Reverend Chauncey Murch (1859–1907), Luxor, Egypt; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1894.5

Publication History

Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1923), 124.
6

Entry by

Notes

  1. Carol Andrews, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1990), 174, fig. 160; 178, fig. 163.
  2. These amulets were excavated from the tomb of Wahib-re-men. See Biri Fay, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry in the Collection of the Verein zur Förderung des ägyptischen Museums in Berlin-Charlottenburg (Berlin: Ägyptischen Museums, 1990), 40.

How to Cite

Emily Teeter, “Cat. 94 Double Crown Amulet” in Ancient Egyptian Art at the Art Institute of Chicago by Emily Teeter and Ashley F. Arico, ed. Ashley F. Arico (Art Institute of Chicago, 2025), https://doi.org/10.53269/9780865593213/96.

© 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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