AN EGYPTIAN FAIENCE ARMADILLO AMULET, PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 304-30 B.C.

拍品描述

AN EGYPTIAN FAIENCE ARMADILLO AMULET, PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 304-30 B.C. Modelled in the round as a quadruped in walking pose, the body rounded and full, standing on four short legs and terminating in a tapering muzzle. The back and flanks are incised with a dense pattern of squared and hatched cells suggesting an armoured carapace, worked into the faience before firing. A pierced suspension loop rises from the shoulders, allowing the amulet to be worn or attached to a mummy wrapping. The turquoise-green glaze is bright and lustrous across the raised surfaces, with pale creamy tones where the glaze has thinned over the incised recesses, and traces of buff-coloured accretion in the interstices. The identification of the creature invites caution. True armadillos are a New World species and are not represented in the Egyptian bestiary; the form here, with its low-slung body, tapering snout, and patterned dorsal armour, more closely follows the conventions used for the hedgehog, a familiar subject of Egyptian faience amulets and cosmetic vessels from the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic periods. Whether interpreted as a hedgehog or as a related small mammal, the amulet belongs to a well-attested tradition of animal figurines whose apotropaic function drew on the animal's ability to survive in hostile desert conditions, its association with rebirth through hibernation, and its perceived protective properties against snakes and other threats. Faience, composed of a ground quartz body coated in an alkaline glaze, held meaning in Egyptian material culture beyond its practical qualities. Its brilliant blue-green colour, called tjehnet, was associated with the regenerative waters of the Nile, with new vegetation, and with the light of the sun, and by extension with rebirth and eternal life. Small faience amulets of this type were produced in great numbers during the Ptolemaic period, worn by the living as protective charms and placed on the body during mummification to safeguard the deceased in the afterlife. The pierced loop confirms the intended use here, suspended from a cord and worn against the body. The amulet exemplifies the domestic and funerary faience production of Ptolemaic Egypt, in which small protective figurines of hedgehogs, frogs, cats, and other creatures of the marginal environment were made in workshop quantities for a broad clientele. Its interest lies in the vitality of the modelling at miniature scale and in the survival of the original turquoise glaze in strong condition. Dimensions: Length: 2 cm

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