Egyptian Schist Cosmetic Mortar

Amuletic pendant with the deity's characteristic hybrid animal elements, dominated by its hippopotamus head, with a plain dorsal pillar with a loop. 16.58 grams, 61 mm



Received as a gift from archaeologist Cyril Aldred, April 1970, when expecting their son Rupert. From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s. Accompanied by an old handwritten information card by Peter Clayton, collection no.124.

Taweret is an ancient Egyptian goddess associated with fertility, childbirth, motherhood, and protecting women during pregnancy and labour. She is depicted as a composite being with animal features and stands out as one of the most distinctive and striking deities in the Egyptian pantheon. Taweret’s name derives from the Egyptian word for "great" or "large" (tꜣwꜣrt), emphasising her formidable and protective nature. Cyril Aldred (1914-1991) was a British Egyptologist and art historian who served at the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, from 1937 until his retirement in 1974. He published widely on Egyptian art, including Old Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt (1949) and Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt (1968), and became a leading authority on Amarna Period art, notably through his 1973 Brooklyn Museum exhibition catalogue, Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

Upper half of a mummiform figure (feet missing), with a black-painted tripartite wig, crossed arms subtly modelled in relief, and hands holding hoes rendered in black; two globular water pots (?) on the back, with a bold black line beneath; a hieroglyphic text on the lower body, reading: 'The Osiris Wennefer'; mounted on a display stand. 61 grams total, 11 cm including stand



Acquired from the Egyptian Exploration Society, 30th June 1965, for 2 shillings and sixpence. From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s. Accompanied by an old handwritten information card by Peter Clayton, collection no.118.

Wennefer, a common name, particularly in the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period, which loosely translates as 'the perfect being', was also an epithet of Osiris.

Oblate type with an impressed cartouche recording the sixth Heb-Sed (jubilee) of Ramesses II. 27.4 grams, 46 mm



Acquired 7th February 1962. From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s. Accompanied by an old handwritten information card by Peter Clayton, collection no.85.

By the time of Ramesses II, the royal Heb-Sed festival was already about two thousand years old. He celebrated his first Heb-Sed in his 30th year and his sixth in his 45th year.