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Details
LOT 0549
Egyptian Faience Bes Amulet
LATE PERIOD, 664-332 B.C.
7/8 in. (3.54 grams, 20 mm).
Rectangular plaque with a head of Bes modelled in low relief on one side and symbols on the reverse; pierced longitudinally.
Provenance
Ex early 20th century collection, London, UK.
Footnotes
From the New Kingdom onwards, Bes became one of ancient Egypt's most popular apotropaic deities. Despite his somewhat fearsome appearance, Bes served as the patron and protector of pregnant women and children, and was also believed to shield them from snakes.
Double-sided Bes amulets appear during the Third Intermediate Period and continued into the Late Period, possibly perpetuated in part by Levantine demand (Cf. Pierrat-Bonnefois, G., ”Les questions d'identité culturelle que soulèvent certaines faïences de la première moitié du Ier millénaire”, dans Bonadies, L., Chirpanlieva, I., Guillon, É. (dir.), Les Phéniciens, les Puniques et les autres. Échanges et identités en Méditerranée ancienne, Orient & Méditerranée 31, Paris, 2019, pp. 58-60, fig. 5b).
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Mahes was an Egyptian lion-headed deity symbolising divine protection, royal power, and justice. Considered a son of Sekhmet or Bastet, he represented the aggressive solar force of Ra, serving as a fierce defender of cosmic order. Venerated in the Delta, especially at Leontopolis, Mahes was depicted as a lion or as a man with a lion's head, often adorned with the atef-crown and uraeus.
