Amulet of a Birth God
Description
Object Label: Ancient Egyptian women wore amulets of birth gods to protect them during and immediately after childbirth. One of these birth gods, a female deity often known as Taweret, was shown with the head and body of a hippopotamus, lion's paws, and a stylized crocodile hanging down her back. Her male counterpart, commonly called Bes, usually appeared frontally. In early Dynasty 18, artists depicted Bes with a human face and a lion's body and mane. Caption: Amulet of a Birth God, ca. 1539–1479 B.C.E.. Faience, 1 1/4 x 5/8 x 1/8 in. (3.2 x 1.6 x 0.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.967E. (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.
An amulet made of blue-green faience shaped like a stylized protective/courtly figure with raised legs and a striding/standing stance, framed by patterned borders.
The image shows a small, thick blue-green faience amulet on a light background. The face/head is schematized with a short, rounded headdress or headform and a dark inlay-like feature across the upper portion. The body is rendered in low relief as a standing figure (or composite sign) with a prominent torso and legs indicated by incised grooves. Horizontal and vertical ribbing/patterning appears on the left side (possibly hair or garment pleats), and additional raised elements flank the figure. A small looped projection is visible on one side/top, consistent with suspension for an amulet. No clear cartouche or readable inscription is visible.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.967E tier-2
- BKM-Object 4119 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.