A neat little object biography from the Amun-Ra blog of the British Museums EA 34213, a gorgeous faience object sometimes called a throw stick, sometimes a wand (Petrie). Photo 1 is the BMs object; photos 2,3 and 4 are just a few of the many fragments of such objects that Petrie found, mostly from Amarna, but theres also one naming Ramesses II. If you want to look at more of them, put faience wand into the catalogue search field and youll get 32 fragments: petriecat.museums.ucl.ac.uk/ From the BM website: Wooden examples of throwsticks that were meant to be used have been found in the burials of Amenhotep II and Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, while model ones made of faience are known for most of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC) kings until the early Twentieth Dynasty (about 1186-1069 BC). While the wooden examples might actually have been used for hunting game birds, the faience ones could not be thrown without being broken. So what was their purpose? As is often the case in ancient Egypt, the explanation lies in the symbolism of rebirth and new life. Scenes of hunting game birds with throwsticks are common in New Kingdom private tombs. The Egyptian words for throwstick and beget (procreate) are very similar. Scenes of hunting game birds may therefore be an allusion to the creation of new life. The shiny and brilliant nature of faience suggests an association with the sun-god, Re; the blue-green colour is also associated with rebirth and new life. This model, placed in the burial of Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV, 1352-1336 BC), would thus be a ritual object designed to ensure the kings regeneration after death. F.D. Friedman (ed.), Gifts of the Nile: ancient Egy (London, Thames and Hudson, 1998) Source: britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights /highlight_objects/aes/f/faience_throwstick_of_akhenate.aspx Photos: 1. British Museum EA34213, Amarna. (Amarna Project) 2. UC659, Amarna. 3. UC12496, cartouche of Tutankhamun, Amarna. Apologies for the quality of the Petrie photographs! 4. UC35342, cartouche of Ramesses II, Thebes.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 08:36:49 +0000
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