Head of the Goddess Taweret
Description
Object Label: Many deities in the official Egyptian pantheon can be recognized by their headdresses. The Double Crown of the beneficent goddess Mut, whose name means “mother,” characterizes her as a conveyor of kingship and the divine mother of pharaoh. Amun, whose name means “hidden,” is portrayed as a man wearing a tall, plumed crown. When he appears with a solar disk at the base of the crown, he is known as Amun-Re, who possesses both hidden and solar creative powers. When shown in tightly enveloping garb and with an erection, he may be called Amun-Re-Kamutef, associated with fertility and regeneration. An amulet in this virile attitude would have held the promise of eternal rebirth after death. Monthly rebirth is also invoked by the full and crescent moons of Khonsu, the divine heir of Amun and Mut. In popular religion the protection of pregnancy and birth was entrusted to such deities as Taweret and Bes. The appearance of Taweret, “The Great One,” as a pregnant hippopotamus with lion and crocodile features is a dramatic symbol of protective motherhood. The dwarf with a lion’s face and legs likely represents Bes, who was worshipped in the home as a protector of motherhood, birth, and rebirth. Caption: Head of the Goddess Taweret, ca. 1336–945 B.C.E.. Hematite, Height: 15/16 in. (2.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 58.92. (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 close-up of a small carved head in the round, showing a stylized bovine/cow-like face with incised hair/strands and a broad, formal headdress or wig framing the head.
The image shows a dark, polished sculpted head viewed from the front-left. The face has large rounded eyes indicated by shallow recessed forms and incised lines suggesting brows and facial contours. The “hair” or wig appears as repeating curved ridges across the top and sides, forming a distinctive patterned coiffure. The lower edge includes a carved border/neck section with decorative detailing along the jawline. No clearly readable inscription or cartouche is visible in this close-up. There are no visible tools or mounting hardware besides the stand beneath the object. Overall, the visible features are consistent with a goddess head-type sculpture, but the specific iconographic details needed to confirm Taweret specifically (e.g., the full set of identifying features) are not clearly exposed in this cropped view.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 58.92 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3654 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.