AN EGYPTIAN AGATE BEAD New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX–XX, 1307–1070 B.C.

拍品描述

AN EGYPTIAN AGATE HEART AMULET, NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XIX-XX, 1307-1070 B.C. Of ovoid, tapering form, carved from a translucent banded agate of pale honey and milky-white tone, with a natural inclusion of deep russet visible through the body of the stone. The lower portion swells to a rounded base while the upper terminates in a flat transverse element flanked by a short cylindrical projection at the crown, pierced longitudinally for suspension. The surface retains a high polish, with light encrustation around the suspension loop, and a warm caramel stain running along one edge of the transverse element where the natural banding of the stone reaches the surface. The form is that of the ib, the heart amulet, one of the most consistent devotional and funerary types of the New Kingdom. The shape derives from the schematic rendering of a vessel with two small handles at the shoulder, understood in Egyptian thought as an image of the physical heart itself, the seat of intellect, memory, and moral identity. The pierced upper element allowed the amulet to be worn or, in funerary use, secured within the wrappings of the deceased at the position of the heart. The choice of agate here is significant. Hardstones with strong internal banding were prized in Egyptian lapidary work for the way translucency and inclusion could be read as active properties of the stone rather than flaws, the interior life of the material accepted as part of the amulet's efficacy. The heart amulet was among the most theologically weighted objects a person could possess: in the judgement of the dead, as described in the funerary literature of the later New Kingdom, the heart was weighed against the feather of Maat, and spells were composed specifically to prevent the heart from bearing witness against its owner. Amulets in this form, placed at the breast, served as material anchors for those spells. Small heart amulets of hardstone are known across the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties in a range of materials including carnelian, jasper, feldspar, and, less commonly, banded agate. Examples in translucent agate are distinguished by the way the internal structure of the stone becomes part of the object's presence. This amulet exemplifies the New Kingdom preference for heart amulets in which the material itself carries meaning, the veining and translucency of the agate reinforcing rather than obscuring the ritual form. Its compact scale and clean profile place it within the standard funerary corpus, while the honeyed banding and russet inclusion mark it as a personal, individually chosen example of a widely produced type. Dimensions: Height: 1.7 cm

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