Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom / Third Intermediate Period, ca. 1550 to 712 BCE. A whiteish-grey steatite "heart" scarab with carved details of the head, wings, and legs and glyph-like, deeply-incised carvings on the underside. The body is drilled through laterally for suspension or for sewing onto wrappings. Heart scarabs are oval amulets that were used as personal protection, jewelry, and grave goods. In the Book of the Dead, they are prescribed to be made of stone - steatite like this example, jasper, serpentine, or greenish basalt. A scarab like this one most likely would have been placed inside of a mummy's wrappings over its heart, which the ancient Egyptians believed to be the seat of the mind. After death, according to their beliefs, an individual's heart would be weighed against a feather by the jackal god Anubis before a panel of deities who waited at the gateway to the netherworld to judge the dead. If the heart was lighter than a feather, then the deceased could pass into the next life; if not, they would be devoured by a monster and cease to exist. Size: 1.55" W (3.9 cm)

Provenance: private Matrisciano collection, California, USA

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#122529

Small losses to leg areas on either side; wear around the central piercing. Slight staining on surface. Motifs on underside are well-preserved.