Tefnut as a Lioness
Description
Object Label: The Egyptians represented the relationship between sky and earth by showing the body of Nut rising in a majestic arc over the figure of the dark, fecund earth god, Geb. To prevent them from further sexual union after the birth of Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys, they were separated eternally by Shu, the god of air. Shu represented the eternal patterns of change the ancient Egyptians associated with cyclical time (neheh). His sister, the leonine goddess Tefnut, was related to the eternal sameness of linear time (djet). Tefnut, shown here as a lioness, had many different aspects. Among her most significant was the "Eye of Re" an aspect of the sun that could be either beneficial or damaging. Caption: Tefnut as a Lioness, ca. 664–332 B.C.E.. Faience, 13/16 x 5/8 x 1 9/16 in. (2 x 1.6 x 3.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 05.364. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
Small turquoise/green faience figurine depicting a recumbent lioness-like form, shown from the side with a stylized body and head.
The image shows a small, horizontal faience object with a stylized animal figure lying on a flat base. The head is turned slightly upward/forward with rounded ears and a simplified facial area; the body is molded as a single piece with minimal detailing. The surface has a glossy turquoise-green glaze with minor chips or irregularities, consistent with a Late Period faience artifact. No clearly readable hieroglyphs, cartouches, or other inscriptions are visible on the object or its immediate background. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text appears in the frame. The catalogue title specifies “Tefnut as a Lioness”; while the depiction is consistent with an Egyptian lioness-associated form, no definitive iconographic markers (such as specific attributes or inscriptions naming Tefnut) are clearly legible in this image.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 05.364 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3217 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.