Djed-Pillar Amulet Bird
Description
Object Label: The djed-pillar can perhaps be understood as the backbone of Osiris, or that of the deceased associated with him. The Egyptians recognized the importance of the spine and saw it as a symbol that kept Osiris, the resurrected god, intact and able to function. Spell 151e of the Book of the Dead refers to the djed-pillar amulet as “the magical protection of Osiris,” and spell 155 was recited over this amulet as it was placed on the throat of a mummy. As a hieroglyph, the djed-pillar denotes the more abstract concepts of stability, endurance, and rejuvenation. Caption: Djed-Pillar Amulet Bird, 664–332 B.C.E.. Faience, 3 3/16 × 1 7/16 × 5/8 in. (8.1 × 3.7 × 1.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1306E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A djed pillar amulet made of faience.
The artifact is a depiction of a djed pillar, a common ancient Egyptian amulet symbolizing stability and strength. It is crafted from faience, characterized by its blue-green glaze. The pillar consists of a central column with four horizontal bars and a base. The djed symbol is often associated with the god Osiris and represents his backbone, playing a significant role in religious and funerary contexts.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1306E tier-2
- BKM-Object 117868 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.