Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Scarab with Perfect Existence Signs
This steatite scarab has a flat underside with a horizontally arranged design with three script signs, two repeated. The design of the back is simple with slightly unbalanced proportions. The workmanship of the piece is good and it is simply made.
This amulet has a recreative and /or good luck connotation; the duplication of the signs should strengthen the effect. The third sign is either a fill character, or refers to the all-inclusiveness of 'perfect existence.' The scarab originally would have been mounted or threaded.
The combination of signs on the bottom of this scarab is not common.
Inscription
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.
Geographies
Egypt
(Place of Origin)
Palestine (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 3/8 x W: 9/16 x L: 13/16 in. (1 x 1.5 x 2.1 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
42.37