Amulet in the Form 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. Caption: Amulet in the Form of the God Bes, ca. 1390–1322 B.C.E.. Gold, 1 7/16 x 11/16 x 3/8 in. (3.6 x 1.7 x 1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.710E. (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 gold amulet shaped like the dwarf/household god Bes, shown standing and facing forward with a distinctive grimacing face and open mouth.
The object is a cast or sculpted gold amulet with a single-figure design. Bes is depicted as a stocky, muscular, bearded male with an exaggerated frowning/grimacing expression; he has a broad brow, prominent eyes, and an open mouth. He stands upright with arms bent and fists positioned near his sides, with legs apart in a frontal pose. A crown-like or headdress element is suggested by a rounded, ribbed band at the top of the head. The figure also wears a short garment or belt-like element around the waist; a striped or incised band is visible across the lower torso/waist area. The overall finish is metallic and reflective, consistent with a gold object. No clear hieroglyphic, Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is visible on the surface in this image.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.710E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4084 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.