Meretseger
Description
Object Label: This goddess, whose name means “she who loves silence,” combines the body of a cobra with the head of a woman. An animal with a human head is a common Egyptian artistic convention. As a local deity, Meretseger guarded the Valley of the Kings, where monarchs were entombed, and the village of craftsmen who worked there. Though a dangerous animal, her purpose was to protect the workers in the valley, and also sometimes to punish wrongdoers. Caption: Meretseger, ca. 1479–1400 B.C.E., or later. Sandstone, pigment, 14 x 4 5/8 x 8 7/8 in. (35.6 x 11.7 x 22.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1749E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth, photographer))
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
An ancient Egyptian figurine depicting a cobra with a solar disk.
The artifact is a sculpted figurine showing a cobra with an erect hood bearing a solar disk atop its head, possibly representing the goddess Wadjet. The cobra is carved in a stylized form with smooth surfaces and defined edges, capturing a sense of both elegance and power often seen in protective deities. The figurine is crafted from a type of reddish stone, showcasing typical Egyptian carving techniques.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1749E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4178 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.