Amuletic aegis of Bastet or Sakhmet

Amuletic aegis of Bastet or Sakhmet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This small piece represents a so called aegis, which is a protective element that combines a broad collar with the head of a deity. The broad collar was a common jewelry item that consisted of several rows of beads and was worn on the chest. Here the head of a feline goddess is featured; this is possibly Sakhmet. She wears a large sun disk and a uraeus cobra on her head. Underneath her lion ruff one can see part of a human tripartite wig, a common element for animal headed deities.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Amuletic aegis of Bastet or SakhmetAmuletic aegis of Bastet or SakhmetAmuletic aegis of Bastet or SakhmetAmuletic aegis of Bastet or SakhmetAmuletic aegis of Bastet or Sakhmet

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.