AN EGYPTIAN CARNELIAN "HEART" AMULET, NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XIX-XX, 1307-1070 B.C.

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AN EGYPTIAN CARNELIAN "HEART" AMULET, NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XIX-XX, 1307-1070 B.C. Of ovoid form tapering to a rounded base and rising to a short cylindrical neck surmounted by a stylised open corolla, the deep translucent carnelian polished to a high lustre and retaining substantial sandy earthen deposits across the shoulders and within the incised lines. The lower body is engraved with a fanned lotus-petal design radiating from a base register of parallel horizontal lines, the petals rendered as a series of narrow triangular segments defined by fine incision. The neck is modelled as a fluted vessel-mouth, articulating the form as a stoppered jar. The reverse (not visible) would typically be plain or pierced longitudinally for suspension. The amulet takes the form of the ib, the heart, one of the central symbols of the Egyptian funerary corpus. Modelled after a hieroglyphic sign long recognised as representing a vessel with handles and a tapering base rather than an anatomical heart, the shape carries the meaning of the seat of intellect, memory, and moral identity, the organ weighed against the feather of Maat in the judgement of the deceased. The lotus decoration on the lower body reinforces the funerary and regenerative programme, the blue lotus in particular associated with solar rebirth and the daily renewal of life. Heart amulets were placed on the mummy at the level of the chest and were often invoked in Spell 30 of the Book of the Dead, in which the deceased addresses the heart directly and asks that it not testify against him during the weighing. The choice of carnelian is deliberate and belongs to the wider Egyptian understanding of stone as an active, meaningful material. Red stones carried associations with blood, vitality, and the protective heat of the sun, and carnelian in particular was linked in the funerary literature to the goddess Isis, whose knot amulet (the tit) was typically executed in the same material. The stone was sourced from the Eastern Desert and Nubia and was reserved for amulets of specifically protective or regenerative function. A heart amulet in carnelian therefore combines the fundamental symbolism of the ib with the vital properties of the stone itself, producing an object whose material and form reinforce a single funerary claim. Heart amulets of this precise form, with a fluted neck and a lotus-petal collar carved onto the body, are characteristic of the later New Kingdom, when the amuletic repertoire of private burials expanded considerably and prescribed placements on the mummy became codified. The type is closely related to the heart-shaped vessels represented in tomb paintings and to the funerary offerings of the same period. This amulet exemplifies the developed heart-amulet type of the Ramesside period, in which the vessel form, the lotus imagery, and the choice of carnelian converge into a compact statement of the funerary programme. Its interest lies in the clarity with which a single small object carries the theological weight of Spell 30 and the regenerative symbolism of the lotus at once. Dimensions: Length 2.5 cm

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