Fragment of "Magic Knife"
Description
Object Label: Used for magical protection, objects like this one are today commonly called “knives” because of their sickle-like shape. Ancient Egyptians placed knives like this on the stomachs of pregnant women and on newborns to repel demons and disease. In the tomb, such knives provided protection for the deceased. Caption: Fragment of "Magic Knife", ca. 1759–after 1630 B.C.E.. Egyptian blue frit, 1 3/8 x 3 9/16 in. (3.5 x 9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour , 16.580.145. (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.
The faience artifact depicts a hippopotamus and several hieroglyphic signs.
This is a blue faience amulet featuring a raised depiction of a hippopotamus, accompanied by a series of hieroglyphic signs. The artifact shows some wear and has signs of erosion, indicating age and use. The composition is typical of small decorative objects used in personal or religious contexts in ancient Egypt.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 16.580.145 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3185 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.