Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · jewelry

Amulet of a Birth God

Source of record: Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

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-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.

A blue faience amulet depicting an Egyptian god, likely Horus in the form of a falcon.

This artifact is a turquoise blue faience amulet likely from ancient Egypt. It features a stylized depiction of a falcon, often associated with the god Horus, characterized by its prominent beak and wings. The artifact exhibits smooth, detailed craftsmanship typical of Egyptian amulets meant for protection and spiritual significance.

religious New Kingdom excellent
Deities Horus
Materials faience

Connections

Found at Egypt
Deities HorusTaweret
Materials Faience

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.