An ancient Egyptian lapis lazuli falcon amulet, circa 664-332 BC, suspended from a modern 18 carat gold loop and chain. The amulet is carved in the form of a standing...
An ancient Egyptian lapis lazuli falcon amulet, circa 664-332 BC, suspended from a modern 18 carat gold loop and chain. The amulet is carved in the form of a standing falcon.
Private collection, Japan, 1980 With Galerie Nefer, Zurich, acquired in Japan in the 1990s Private collection, Aarau, Switzerland, until 2015, thence by descent Private collection, Switzerland, acquired in 2018
Exhibitions
On Loan: Antikenmuseum Basel & Sammlung Ludwig, 1998 – 2022
Literature
Egyptian amulets were believed to possess positive properties that could be magically bestowed upon the owner. This magical power could be derived from several elements of the amulet: the material, colour, shape, decoration, and the object that the amulet was intended to represent. Amulets could be worn with other pieces of jewellery or sewn into clothes.
Falcons are often associated with the sky god Horus, though various deities and the pharaoh himself could assume a falcon form. The identification of the deity represented is even harder in the case of amulets (Andrews 1994, 27-28). For a similar lapis example dated to the Late Period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see acc. no. 26.7.895.
Publications
A. Wiese, Ägypten – Augenblicke der Ewigkeit: unbekannte Schätze aus Schweizer Privatbesitz, Mainz, 1997, p.84-5, ill. d (part).