Finial with Figure of the God Bes
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. Provenance: Culture Egyptian Caption: Egyptian. Finial with Figure of the God Bes, ca. 1075–656 B.C.E.. Bronze, 15 15/16 x 2 13/16 in. (40.5 x 7.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 46.127. (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.
The image shows a bronze finial with a standing, bearded male dwarf/guardian figure wearing a tall crown and holding a narrow central attribute, topped with a spiked crown-like form.
A full-length finial figure is shown against a plain light background. The subject stands upright with dark patina on a bronze surface. The figure has a broad face with a stylized beard and mustache, a visible striated wig/beard, and arms held down at the sides with clenched fists. It wears a tall, ribbed crown with a band and a row of upright spikes at the top. The torso is muscular and the figure’s legs are carved in a simplified, compact style. Below the standing figure is a separate elongated section that tapers slightly, ending in a rounded base with a small attachment/rod visible at the bottom (likely for mounting into an object). No clearly legible inscriptions are visible in the provided view. The crown and facial features are consistent with the general iconography of Bes-like protective figures, though fine diagnostic details cannot be confirmed from this single photograph.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 46.127 tier-2
- BKM-Object 59594 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.