Scarab with Personal Wish Formula

Description This serpentine scarab has a flat underside with a vertically arranged bottom design and inscription. The inscription is a personal wish formula requesting the support and protection of Horus. The design on the back of the scarab is very detailed, with deeply incised lines and regular line flow. The proportions of the top are well balanced. The piece is carefully made, and the workmanship is good. The scarab functioned as a provider individualized amulet with a wish formula. The amulet should provide its owner with the protection of Horus. It would have originally been mounted or threaded. The high quality of the scarab, the unusual writing of the wish formula, and the special variety of the material demonstrate that this scarab was a special production and not part of a usual series.

Provenance Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1929 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Translation] May the favorite of Horus-son-of-Isis be well and safe.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1929