AN EGYPTIAN FAIENCE WEDJAT-EYE AMULET LATE PERIOD, DYNASTY XXVI-XXX, 664-343 B.C.

拍品描述

AN EGYPTIAN FAIENCE WEDJAT-EYE AMULET, LATE PERIOD, DYNASTY XXVI-XXX, 664-343 B.C. Of flat plaque form, moulded in the shape of the right wedjat, the eye of Horus, with a small pierced suspension loop rising from the upper edge. The eyebrow is rendered as a bold dark manganese-purple band running the length of the upper margin, arching gently above the almond-shaped eye. The pupil is picked out as a dark circular disc set within the incised outline of the lid. Below, the characteristic markings of the falcon's eye are worked in shallow relief: the vertical teardrop drop-line falls beneath the outer canthus, its surface scored with fine parallel striations, while the spiral curl sweeps forward from the inner canthus across the cheek. The body of the amulet is glazed in a pale turquoise-blue faience, the surface now softened by earthen deposits and light abrasion, with warm ochre encrustation collected in the recesses of the modelling. The wedjat, or "sound eye," is among the most widely produced protective amulets of ancient Egypt. In the Osirian cycle, Horus loses his eye in combat with Seth and has it restored by Thoth, the restored eye standing thereafter as the emblem of wholeness, healing, and the return of order after violence. Worn in life and placed on the body of the deceased, the wedjat conferred protection, physical soundness, and regenerative power on its bearer. The form is that of a falcon's eye, combining human ocular anatomy with the markings beneath the eye of the lanner falcon sacred to Horus, and its constituent parts were also read as the fractional notation for grain measures, each stroke corresponding to a proportion of the hekat. Faience itself carried meaning beyond its use as a substitute for costlier stones. The Egyptians termed the material tjehnet, "that which is brilliant" or "shining," and its characteristic turquoise-blue glaze was associated with the Nile waters, the sky, and the regenerative powers of the goddess Hathor. Objects of this material were considered inherently apotropaic, the colour and luminosity of the glaze themselves participating in the amulet's power. The addition of manganese-purple for the brow and pupil is a technical refinement of the Late Period, when Egyptian faience workshops exploited a broader palette than the monochrome turquoise of earlier dynasties, producing polychrome amulets in significant quantity for both funerary and votive use. This amulet exemplifies the standardised yet carefully finished Late Period production of wedjat plaques, in which the essential iconography is rendered with clarity of line and the protective symbolism reinforced through the deliberate contrast of turquoise and manganese. Pieces of this scale, pierced for suspension, sit between personal adornment and funerary equipment, and their survival in numbers reflects the enduring centrality of Horus's restored eye in Egyptian devotional practice down to the end of the pharaonic era. Dimensions: Length: 3.3cm

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