H x W x D: 6.6 x 8.6 x 0.8 cm (2 5/8 x 3 3/8 x 5/16 in)
Type:
Jewelry and Ornament
Origin:
Egypt
Date:
ca. 1539-1190 BCE
Period:
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18 or 19
Label:
The central design of this amulet consists of a pair of jackals facing each other, each seated atop a shrine. The jackals represent Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of embalming, who was also the guardian of the cemetery. Above and behind each jackal are hieroglyphs giving two of the common epithets of Anubis: "Anubis who is embalmer," and "Anubis who is before the god’s place of embalming." The amulet itself is in the form of a shrine, and is pierced for suspending on a cord. Since the jackals represent Anubis, the god of mummification, this pectoral is a purely funerary type of amulet. It would have been placed on the chest of the mummy to ensure its safe passage into the next life.
Provenance:
To 1907
Dikran G. Kelekian (1868-1951), Cairo, Egypt, Paris, France, and New York to 1907 [1]
From 1907 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Dikran G. Kelekian in 1907 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Pottery List, L. 1581, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
[2] See note 1.
[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
A Collector’s Eye: Freer in Egypt (January 28, 2023 to 2025)
Charles Lang Freer and Egypt (June 13, 1998 to October 2, 2011)
Art of Dynastic Egypt (December 15, 1976 to September 22, 1977)
