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Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · statue

Bes with Lute

Source of record: Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Object Label: Bes was popularly worshipped as protector of women and infants, and as a facilitator of fertility. Shown standing on the head and shoulders of a woman with a baby, in Bes with Lute the god protects the mother and newborn by driving away potential harm with the sounds of his musical instrument. The large, round ears and facial folds seen on the Finial are reminiscent of a snarling lion and connect Bes with powerful felines. Because Bes was a multifaceted god who offered protection during such times of transition as pregnancy and birth, women wore his images, like the Amulet, while giving birth or during rites of passage. Caption: Bes with Lute, 664–343 B.C.E.. Copper alloy, 4 1/2 × 1 1/16 × 7/8 in. (11.4 × 2.7 × 2.3 cm) With Mount: 8 1/2 × 1 1/16 × 2 1/2 in. (21.6 × 2.7 × 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.921E.

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.

Two ancient Egyptian bronze figurines mounted on stands.

The image depicts two bronze figurines, each mounted on a display stand. The left figure appears to represent a deity with an elaborate headdress and anthropomorphic features, while the right figure is more abstract with a unique geometric base. Both figures showcase detailed craftsmanship typical of metalwork in ancient Egypt.

decorative unknown good
Materials bronze

Connections

Found at Egypt
Materials Bronze

Cross-references (2)

  • BKM-Accession 37.921E tier-2
  • BKM-Object 117505 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.