Falcon Pectoral

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This falcon with outstretched wings was found within Gautsoshen’s mummy wrappings. It was placed on her upper chest, above the heart scarab, likely to protect the chest or throat. Although there are other gods that take falcon form, here it is probably a depiction of Horus, holding shen rings, symbols of the eternal circuit of the sun, in his talons. The legs, made separately, are held to the body with rivets. A hole for stringing has been punched through the tip of each wing, but these do not appear to have been used. The impressions of what appear to have been similar falcons were found on the mummies of Djedmutesankh and Nesitaset. These were presumably taken by thieves for the metal. It is also possible that other of the mummies in the tomb had pectorals that have left no trace.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art