Amulet of the Deity Heh Holding Signs for Millions of Years
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: Amulet of the Deity Heh Holding Signs for Millions of Years, ca. 945–718 B.C.E.. Faience, 7/8 × 1/4 × 1 9/16 in. (2.2 × 0.6 × 3.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1169E. (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 blue-green faience amulet depicting a seated god-like figure inside a rounded frame/arch.
The object is a compact amulet in a blue-green (turquoise) material, likely faience, formed in the shape of a standing or seated deity-like figure with a human/anthropomorphic form. The figure appears to wear a close-fitting headdress and holds or supports a pair of upright, sign-like elements that extend upward beside the body (suggestive of an arm holding symbols). The backplate/outer border forms a rounded arch with a small knob at the top. No clearly readable hieroglyphic text, cartouches, or modern inscriptions are visible in the provided image. The surface shows typical wear and speckling consistent with small glazed ceramic/ faience objects.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1169E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4124 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.