Ring with a gem with magical device of a composite figure with an unidentifiable object and a caduceus

Ring with a gem with magical device of a composite figure with an unidentifiable object and a caduceus

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gems that inscriptions and non-standard iconography associate with certain magical practices known from texts and manuals, especially in the Roman Imperial Period, are termed 'magical gems.' While this gem has no inscription, the unusual figure depicted has a feathered body and bird legs but a strange head. This suggests it might have a relationship to the material described as magical gems.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ring with a gem with magical device of a composite figure with an unidentifiable object and a caduceusRing with a gem with magical device of a composite figure with an unidentifiable object and a caduceusRing with a gem with magical device of a composite figure with an unidentifiable object and a caduceusRing with a gem with magical device of a composite figure with an unidentifiable object and a caduceusRing with a gem with magical device of a composite figure with an unidentifiable object and a caduceus

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.