Ritual Object
Description
Object Label: This object is seen in temple reliefs in which the king offers it to goddesses like Hathor, Sakhmet, Mut, or Bastet who are called the Eye of Re. As the Eye of Re, each of these deities symbolized a number of ideas, including the destructive power of the sun god. In return for this offering, the king was assured of protection and the power needed to maintain cosmic order, or Ma'at. He also received the gift of a uraeus for his crown, a symbol of the same forces embodied in the Eye of Re. The cycle of giving, receiving, and giving in return ritually affirmed that the king's possession of royal power was confirmed and renewed. Caption: Ritual Object, ca. 664–30 B.C.E.. Faience, 4 1/16 x 2 1/4 x 1 11/16 in. (10.3 x 5.7 x 4.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 36.838. (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 Egyptian faience ritual figure styled as a crouching, mummiform/standing-lion-baby-like figure with a human-like face, large kohl-outlined eyes, and a simplified beard or chin line.
The object is a small, greenish-blue faience figure photographed front-on against a museum wall. The head is rounded with pronounced, arched eyebrows and large, darkened eyes; the face is simplified with no clearly readable inscriptions. The shoulders and upper torso are block-like, with the arms folded or brought toward the chest. The lower body is elongated and ends in a flat base with a slightly raised rim. The head covering/striation around the sides suggests a wig or headdress-like pattern. No legs are clearly modeled beyond the tapered torso. There is visible surface wear and discoloration. No clearly legible hieroglyphs, cartouches, or Greek/Coptic/Arabic text are visible on the front view.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 36.838 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3414 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.