Scarab with sphinx and inscription

Unknown

ca. 733–525 B.C. · Faience · Egyptian Art

The scarab’s base displays at the top a recumbent sphinx facing right. It has the body of a lion and the head of a king, with a royal beard and the nemes headcloth with rearing uraeus on the forehead. It holds a hes-vase, the hieroglyph for praise, between its front paws. The sphinx–like the horse and the bull–is one of the animals that symbolizes the king. Below hieroglyphs complete the inscription.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 733–525 B.C.

Medium

Faience

Department

Egyptian Art

Credit line

Gift of Helen Miller Gould, 1910