Hand Amulet
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: Hand Amulet, ca. 1332–1322 B.C.E.. Carnelian, 5/16 × 1/4 × 1 3/16 in. (0.8 × 0.6 × 3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift in memory of Arthur W. Clement, 57.76.1. (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, reddish-brown carved amulet shaped like an open hand (hand/“finger” form) on a neutral background.
The image shows a single compact amulet with the outline of a human hand: fingers are indicated with shallow grooves and the thumb is tucked, suggesting an open-hand protective motif. The amulet appears polished and translucent-to-semi-translucent with prominent vertical ridges and a dark, denser area toward the lower part, consistent with carved stone. No clear hieroglyphs, cartouches, Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text are visible in the provided photograph.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 57.76.1 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3633 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.