Funerary Pectoral

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pectorals for mortuary use often took the form of a pylon (the gateway into a temple) or shrine, as this one does. The top edge is shaped like a cornice, with a block border frame on each side. At the bottom is a horizontal register containing zigzag lines, indicating a band of water. Atop this floats a papyrus skiff in which two women stand, their arms upraised in a gesture of both adoration and protection. These can be identified as Isis and Nephthys, sisters of the god of the dead, Osiris. In Egyptian mythology, Osiris was killed by his jealous brother Seth, then resurrected through the efforts of his sisters, who are often seen guarding his body. The hole in the center would have held a "heart" scarab (see for example 36.3.2), which is one form taken by the sun at dawn. The reverse of the pectoral reinforces this symbolism: two figures of the pectoral's owner, the scupltor of Amun, Iuner, identified by inscriptions as an "Osiris" (one of the blessed dead) kneel and adore the missing scarab; at the top of the scene is a winged sun disk, providing solar connections. The pectoral thus links the sun god with Osiris (with whom he would join in the depths of the night), and both symbolizes and ensures the rebirth of the deceased. Holes at the top and the bottom of the piece would have been used to attach the pectoral to the wrappings of the mummy, probably over the chest.

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