Wadjet-Eyes and Papyrus Stalks
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: Wadjet-Eyes and Papyrus Stalks, ca. 945–718 B.C.E. or later. Faience, 2 1/4 × 1/2 × 2 3/8 in. (5.7 × 1.3 × 6.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 08.480.93. (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 turquoise/blue-green faience amulet-shaped plaque showing two mirrored eye-like motifs around a central vertical divider and surrounding decorative elements resembling lotus/papyrus stalk forms.
The object appears as a circular/rosette-like faience piece with a central vertical band that divides the design into left and right halves. On each side of the central band are curved, wing-like elements that look like stylized eye motifs (the outer arcs with inner circular/oval details). Additional raised scroll or spiral forms appear near the perimeter, giving a concentric, ornamented frame. There is no clearly legible inscription, cartouche, or readable hieroglyphic text on the visible face. The catalogue title mentions “Wadjet-Eyes and Papyrus Stalks”; the eye-like elements strongly align with the “Wadjet-eye” part, while the papyrus-stalk aspect is not unambiguously identifiable but could be represented by the surrounding plant-like curving forms.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 08.480.93 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3238 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.