Djed pillar

Djed pillar

Period:Late Period–Ptolemaic PeriodDate:525–30 BCGeography:From EgyptMedium:Yellow GlassDimensions:H. 3.4 × W. 1.3 cm (1 5/16 × 1/2 in.)Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917

Starting in the later Late Period and continuing through the Ptolemaic Period, glass a type of glass amulet cast by pressing the glass into a shallow open mold appears. The back was left rough, and the amulets may look ragged because glass overflowed the mold around the edges. The earlier amulets are monochrome, bi- or multicolor amulets supplement the repertoire during the Ptolemaic Period.

Some of the amulets can be specifically tied to spells of the Book of the Dead – for example, acc. no. 17.194.2526 – and most are clearly funerary amulets, presumably meant to be wrapped between the bandages of the mummy where the presence of the amulet would do its job irrespective of its degree of finish.

http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/559435