Mustaki Collection Turquoise Faience Scarab
Mustaki Collection Turquoise Faience Scarab
Mustaki Collection Turquoise Faience Scarab

Mustaki Collection Turquoise Faience Scarab

£ 180.00

A beautiful turquoise faience Egyptian scarab featuring an inscribed base with hieroglyphic motifs including the ones of a scarab and a feather of Maat. The scarab is pierced to both sides for suspension.

Date: Circa 1200-500 BC
Provenance: Ex Mustaki Collection. The scarab comes from the Mustaki Collection. Mustaki was an avid collector in the early 20th century and his collection came to the UK under Egyptian licence in 1947. Many of his pieces are in major museums worldwide, including the British Museum, the Getty Museum and the Egyptian State Museum. This collection and this item has been catalogued by Carol Andrews (formerly Egyptian Department in the British Museum).
Condition: Very fine with some earthly encrustations, the details of the hieroglyphs are clearly visible.

SOLD

Product Code: ES-56
Category: Tags: ,

The scarab was one of the most popular ancient Egyptian amulets, used as pieces of jewellery, commemorative items and seals, and magical amulets offering protection and good fortune. The scarab was thought to represent the sun god Ra. As the sun travels across the sky from day to night, the ancient Egyptians believed that the scarab beetle rolling its ball of dung across the desert mirrored this. This scarab comprises an engraving of the hieroglyph of the feather of Maat, the Ancient Egyptian goddess of truth and justice whose feather was balanced against the heart on the scale during the ceremony of the weighing of the heart in the underworld.

To learn more about the feather of Maat and the heart weighing ceremony, visit our relevant blog post: The Egyptian Ceremony of the the Weighing of the Heart.

 
Dimensions L 1.2 x W 0.9 cm
Faience

Turquoise Faience
Region

North Africa