Ivory magic knife

Ivory magic knife
Ivory magical knives served to protect women at the moment of childbirth; their decoration was restricted to the depiction of a series of demons who would magically turn their aggressive instincts against those who would do evil to the mother and child. Both sides of this piece of ivory are decorated in a similar fashion with various demons and deities: a serpent, a crocodile, a brazier, the god Aha-the fighter-, a hippopotamus, a Seth animal, another hippo..., a knife, the frog-goddess Heqet and a winged griffin.

Present location KMKG - MRAH [07/003] BRUSSELS
Inventory number E.2673
Dating MIDDLE KINGDOM
Archaeological Site EL-LISHT ?
Category UNSPECIFIED RELIGIOUS AND CULT OBJECT
Material IVORY
Technique ENGRAVED; POLISHED
Width 4.5 cm
Bibliography•L. Speleers, Recueil des inscriptions égyptiennes des Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire à Bruxelles, Bruxelles 1923, 33 nº 104
•(M. Werbrouck,) Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles. Département égyptien, Album, Bruxelles 1934, pl. 74
•H. Altenmüller, Die Apotropaia und die Götter Mittelägyptens, Munich 1965, I passim, II 20 n° 20; fig. 12, II 118
•H. Altenmüller, Ein Zaubermesser des Mittleren Reiches, SAK 13 (1986) 1-27
•J.-Ch. Balty, e.a., Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis, Brussel, Oudheid - Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles, Antiquité - The Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, Antiquity, Bruxelles 1988, 21
•F. Lefebvre et B. Van Rinsveld, L'Égypte. Des Pharaons aux Coptes, Bruxelles 1990, 68-69
•Witte magie, zwarte magie (Exposition), Bruxelles 1995, 17
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