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Source Description
The ancient Egyptians believed that the dung beetle, the Scarabaeus sacer, was one of the manifestations of the sun god. Representations of these beetles were used as amulets, and for ritual or administrative purposes.This scaraboid combines the type of a naturalistic scarab with hawk head. The back of the scarab is flat, and the hawk head raised. The pronotum (dorsal plate of the prothorax) and the elytron (wing cases) are separated by an incised partition line. The head of the hawk is modeled, and the round eyes were originally inlaid. The extremities and belly are simply modeled and somewhat stocky. A central notch is at each edge. The body is detailed executed for its small size, and the hawk head and beetle body join in a balanced way. The bottom is more roughly carved, the outer shape is reminiscent of natural formed scarabs, the front with deep serration notches, but there are no extremities molded on the underside. The basic form of the scaraboid is long-oval.The hawk-scaraboid has a regenerative connotation, and was most probably attached to mummy wrappings. The hawk head of the amulet strengthens the solar renewal connotation of the amulet, and may focus on the transition aspect.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
30303
label
Naturalistic Scarab with Hawk's Head
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
5
Source metadata
id
30303
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Naturalistic Scarab with Hawk's Head
description
The ancient Egyptians believed that the dung beetle, the Scarabaeus sacer, was one of the manifestations of the sun god. Representations of these beetles were used as amulets, and for ritual or administrative purposes.This scaraboid combines the type of a naturalistic scarab with hawk head. The back of the scarab is flat, and the hawk head raised. The pronotum (dorsal plate of the prothorax) and the elytron (wing cases) are separated by an incised partition line. The head of the hawk is modeled, and the round eyes were originally inlaid. The extremities and belly are simply modeled and somewhat stocky. A central notch is at each edge. The body is detailed executed for its small size, and the hawk head and beetle body join in a balanced way. The bottom is more roughly carved, the outer shape is reminiscent of natural formed scarabs, the front with deep serration notches, but there are no extremities molded on the underside. The basic form of the scaraboid is long-oval.The hawk-scaraboid has a regenerative connotation, and was most probably attached to mummy wrappings. The hawk head of the amulet strengthens the solar renewal connotation of the amulet, and may focus on the transition aspect.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1930, [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
664-525 BCE (Late Period)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Precious Stones & Gems
scarabs
amulets
imageCount
5
pageCount
5
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
1.4
height
0.9
depth
0.8
dimensionsRaw
H: 9/16 x W: 3/8 x D: 5/16 in. (1.4 x 0.9 x 0.75 cm)
Source extras
cul
Egyptian
dynasty
26th Dynasty
med
blue lapis lazuli
creator_ids
6182
collection_ids
EGY
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
c5a3eaee8f425148
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
4547ef7aa5dbec1f
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
cf83af988eb1642c
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
4
type
photo
mediaId
7b612d0bb52416f4
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
5
type
photo
mediaId
ce294f74c51af2fa
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no