Amulet of Two Fingers
Late Period (664–332 BCE)
Medium
Hematite
Dimensions
9.9 × 2.7 × 1 cm (3 7/8 × 1 1/16 × 3/8 in.)
Classification
amulet
Department
Arts of Africa
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
141111
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This amulet depicts the index and middle fingers of a right hand. The fingernails and joints are carefully rendered using incised lines. Amulets in this form were always made from dark-colored glass or stone (as in this example) and may represent the embalmer’s fingers. They were usually placed on the left side of a mummified body’s torso, near the incision that had been made to remove the internal organs. Here the amulet could heal the wound created during the mummification process so that its ...
About the Artist
Ancient Egyptian
Ancient Egyptian artists, a collective of highly skilled artisans spanning over three millennia from the Predynastic period (c. 6000–3150 BC) to the Roman era (30 BC–4th century AD), produced some of humanity's most enduring masterpieces. These anonymous craftsmen, often organized in state-sponsored workshops, lived in dedicated communities like Deir el-Medina near Luxor during the New Kingdom (c....