Cow rattle

This rattle has the form of a cow with stumps indicating the protruding knees of its legs folded beneath its body and the tail lying along its back. The animal raises and turns its head, seemingly agitated.

The confined form of the body is, on the one hand, necessitated by the need to hold and shake the object. On the other hand, the composition of the figure recalls very much Egyptian representations of agitated cattle bound and awaiting sacrifice, which raises the possibility the rattle accompanied a temple or funeral ceremony where such animals were offered.

Rattles are known already in the Predynastic Period, those preserved having simple shapes. With the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom some animal forms appear, generally rather compressed. The Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom see more elaborate forms. Several rattles were found at the late eighteenth dynasty city of Amarna; two in particular were well-preserved, one with the form of a bound antelope and the other a gourd shaped rattle with a gazelle’s head.