scarab
- Description
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Mould-made scarab in glazed composition; simply-modelled back with well-marked clypeus, prothorax and elytra indicated by deep single lines, and triangular winglets on either side; at side, legs quite well-modelled with undercut triangular space; underside stamped with falcon holding a flail to right and half a cartouche to left, containing three debased hieroglyphic signs; inscription separated from falcon by vertical line; longitudinally pierced; thick apple green glaze well preserved, slighly eroded on back.
- Production date
- 600 BC-570 BC (mainly)
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- The association of a falcon holding a flail with a half cartouche was popular on scarabs and scaraboids produced at Naukratis (on the various productions of the Scarab Factory, see Webb forthcoming). This scarab belongs to a type which was widely distributed in the Mediterranean area and Southern Russia (Gorton 1996, 103-107, type XXVIII B, subtypes B1-12).
Petrie illustrated variants of this association of an animal - often a falcon or a mythical creature - with a debased hieroglyphic inscription (Petrie 1886, pl. XXXVII, no. 71-78). The hieroglyphs, as seen in many similar examples, are often interpreted as a debased version of pharaohs' names (Gorton 1996, 93).
For a similar motif on scarabs and scaraboids from Naukratis see: Boston, Museum of Fine Arts 86.695; Bristol, City Art Gallery & Museum H5115.14; Paris, Louvre Museum E8056 bis.9; BM 1886,0401.1647 (in Egyptian blue).
Gorton, A.F. 1996, Egyptian and Egyptianizing scarabs: a typology of steatite, faience, and paste scarabs from Punic and other Mediterranean sites, Oxford.
Petrie, W.M.F. 1886, Naukratis. Part I, 1884–5 (Third Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund), London.
Webb, V. forthcoming, Faience finds from Naukratis and their implications for the chronology of the site, in R. Thomas (ed.), forthcoming. Naukratis in Context I: The Nile Delta as a Landscape of Connectivity. Proceedings of the First Naukratis Project Workshop held at The British Museum 16th – 17th December 2011.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Fair
- Acquisition notes
- EEF
- Department
- External
- Additional IDs
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Miscellaneous number: NM00.128.6 (Accession Number)
