Naos-Sistrum with Bes-Shaped Handle
Description
<p>Special instruments were used by priests and priestesses to invoke the deities or to perform rituals before them. One of the most important instruments was the sistrum, a rattle associated with the goddess Hathor. The goddess's face is often incorporated into the sistrum's design, as is, in this example, an image of the god Bes, which serves as the object's handle. Inside of the naos-shaped top is a small cat below the clappers. </p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/54.493' rel='external'>Naos-Sistrum with Bes-Shaped Handle</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
A machine reading of the photograph made Jul 2026: deities, names, signs and a description as the model saw them. Not curatorial; treat it as the model's best reading, not authority.
Cross-references (2)
- Walters-AccNum 54.493 tier-2
- Walters-id 15898 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
- 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.