banner-onlineshop

Egyptian headrest amulet

Price: on request
Sold
Object number
AR3018
Object: Egyptian headrest amulet

Material: Dark stone.

Period: Late Period of Ancient Egypt.
26th to 31st dynasty,
664 BC to 332 BC.

Description:    The amulet is shaped like a headrest. A concave rest resides on a broad shaft on a rectangular base plate.

Background: Headrest amulets, also called weres amulets, are a popular object category in the Late Period. They are based on large headrests that have served the Egyptians as pillows since the Old Kingdom. The miniature representations with amulet character were exclusively used in the Egyptian death ritual. They symbolized regeneration, probably due to the abstract resemblance of the sleeping person's round head to the returning sun. One of the earliest known pieces comes from the famous tomb of Tutankhamun from the 18th dynasty. The weres amulet we offer is younger and dates to the boom time of such amulets from the 26th dynasty onwards.

Dimensions: 16.5mm width, 9mm height.

Condition: Perfect preservation.

Provenance: Acquired by us in 2020 from G. Vandervort, USA. Previously with the US American Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (accession no. 1980.258), accessioned in 1980 from the US American Mayer private collection (collection no. A-237). Probably a gift from the wife of Horace L. Mayer, the piece was possibly already loaned to the museum before 1980. It was acquired into the Mayer collection before 1969.
Horace L. Mayer and his wife (Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA) developed a love for Egyptian art and started collecting during their travels to Europe in the 1920ies. More than half of their objects came from the collection of Luigi Vassalli (1812 bis 1887). Since 1930 Mr. and Mrs. Mayer consulted the Egyptian department of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and began loaning objects so the museum could study them. The cooperation continued and until Mr. Mayer's death in 1968 more than 350 objects have been loaned or gifted to the museum. Mrs. Mayer stayed in contact with the museum and donated further artefacts from the collection of her husband until at least 1980.

References: Cf. C. Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt, p. 94, no. 95a.

Literature: A comprehensive treatise on this amulet type is found in C. Müller-Winkler, Die Ägyptischen Objekt-Amulette (Freiburg, 1987), p. 325ff.

Authenticity: We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.