One of the Four Sons of Horus
Description
Object Label: Living persons wore only one or a few amulets at a time, but mummies usually bear many amulets. The Ma’at amulet (no. 2) and heart scarabs (nos. 1, 3, 11), which occurred in many forms, guaranteed a successful judgment of the dead. The amulets of a hand (no. 8), lungs and a windpipe (no. 12), and wadjet-eyes (i.e., “healthy” eyes; no. 4) protected those parts of the body and also had connotations of resurrection and the unity or integrity of the mummy. The enigmatic aper amulet (no. 13) takes the form of the hieroglyph meaning “to be equipped,” perhaps in reference to the mummy’s preparation. The two crowns (nos. 5, 6) were symbols of power. The Heh insignia (no. 7), like the popular ankh-sign, denoted eternal life. Among the living, the frog (no. 9) and possibly also the hare (no. 10) suggested fertility. The amulets of the Four Sons of Horus (no. 15) perhaps served, as they did with canopic jars, to protect various organs of the body. Caption: One of the Four Sons of Horus, ca. 664–after 30 B.C.E.. Faience, 4 1/2 × 1 5/8 × 1/2 in. (11.5 × 4.2 × 1.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 51.223.2. (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.
A small blue faience figurine shaped like a canid-like animal standing upright on four short legs with a raised snout and tail near the body.
The image shows a single small object photographed against a light, featureless background. The figurine is modeled in the form of a standing, smooth-bodied animal with a long neck. Its head is turned to the viewer’s right, with pointed ears and a protruding muzzle. A tail curls downward along the back/side. The surface appears glossy with visible color variations typical of glazed faience; small dark pits/holes are visible at several points on the body and near the head and/or legs, consistent with age-related spalling or manufacturing imperfections. No attached base, suspension loop, or modern mounts are clearly visible. There are no clearly legible hieroglyphs, cartouches, or other scripts on the visible surfaces of the object. The photo does not show any clear deity iconographic attributes beyond the general animal form.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 51.223.2 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3563 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.