Set of Four Amulets of the Sons of Horus

Artist Unidentified

Period Third Intermediate Period (Ancient Egyptian, 1070–664 BCE)

Dynasty Dynasty 23 (Ancient Egyptian, 818–712 BCE)

Dynasty Dynasty 24 (Ancient Egyptian, 724–712 BCE)

Dynasty Dynasty 25 (Nubian) (Ancient Egyptian, 712–664 BCE)

Place of OriginEgypt

Date23rd-25th Dynasties (818-664 BCE)

Mediumglazed ceramic

ClassificationJewelry

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1906.49A-D

Not on View

DescriptionThis is a set of four small ceramic amulets (1906.49A–D), each representing one of the Sons of Horus—Qebehsenuef with a falcon head (1906.49A), Hapy with a baboon head (1906.49B), Duamutef with a jackal head (1906.49C), and Imsety with a human head (1906.49D). Each figure is covered in a blue glaze, much of which has turned green over time. They are shown in the form of mummies and face to the right. These amulets were likely made as a coordinated group and placed inside a mummy’s wrappings to protect the body’s internal organs.

Label TextThese four ceramic amulets (1906.49A–D) represent the Sons of Horus, Egyptian deities who guarded the organs of the deceased. Each figure—Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, and Qebehsenuef—is shown in mummiform, facing right, and coated in a blue glaze that evokes rebirth. These protective amulets were placed inside the mummy’s wrappings during burial to safeguard the body on its journey into the afterlife.