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Oval Plaque with Blessing Related to Bastet

Third Intermediate Period or Late Period
ca. 1080–525 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 130
This banded agate oval plaque has an undecorated back, while the underside is incised with three hieroglyphs forming a blessing directed to the goddess Bastet. Bastet is here referred to by the vase which is used to write her name in hieroglyphs. It is not unusual on seal-amulets to use abbreviated forms of divine names or even represent them by means of a symbol. Scarabs bearing wishes and blessings related to divinities whose protection individuals wished to summon are particular popular during the late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1295-664 B.C.). Given the limited surface on scarab bases, seal carvers were often very creative in using as few hieroglyphs and signs as possible in order to convey their message.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Oval Plaque with Blessing Related to Bastet
  • Period: Third Intermediate Period or Late Period
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 21–26
  • Date: ca. 1080–525 BCE
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: Agate
  • Dimensions: L. 2.3 × W. 1.6 cm (7/8 × 5/8 in.)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Helen Miller Gould, 1910
  • Object Number: 10.130.832
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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