Triad of Isis, Nephthys, and Harpocrates

Pendants with representations of single gods or groups of deities were popular in the 1st millennium BC. This triad displays the juvenile god Harpocrates in the center, depicted as a nude boy with a side-lock and uraeus-serpent above his forehead. To his right his mother Isis is depicted and to his left is Nephthys. The two goddesses have the hieroglyphic signs which represent their names as crowns on their heads; for Isis it is the throne, and for Nephthys the combination of a temple with a basket.

The three figures are formed half in the round; they have a rectangular backplate and base. The relationship between these three deities is an important part of the Osiris and Horus myth. Both female goddesses protect the juvenile god of kingship, Horus, against the attacks of his powerful uncle Seth, the god of the wild and uncontrolled nature, who tries to gain control of the universe.

The small group is part of a set of nearly identical amulets (together with Walters 48.1673, 48.1675-80). Such amulet groups were placed on the mummy between the wrappings.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.