Sistrum with the Name of King Amasis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sistra are cultic musical instruments, which when shaken produced a rattling sound that was thought to be soothing and pacifying. These cultic instruments are closely connected to the goddess Hathor and they most commonly include the Hathor emblem, which contains a woman’s head with cow’s ears. The top of the piece here is in the shape of a naos between two volutes and thus belongs to a type of sistrum called "naos sistrum." This top part originally held three cross bars, as is evident from the three holes on the sides of the piece. Small sounding plates were presumably originally inserted onto these now missing bars in order to produce a rattling sound. Many sistra made out of faience are known. They might have been meant as gifts to a deity rather than as instruments that were played often, as the material would be too fragile for frequent use. The handle of the piece has two inscriptions that each give two of the names of king Amasis.

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