Provenance

Horus is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities, worshipped from almost the late prehistoric period in Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Roman conquest. Horus, being a god of the sky, war and hunting, was most often depicted as a falcon, though representations of him as a man with a falcon head are equally frequent. The Pyramid Texts, a collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom dated between 2400 and 2300 BC, describe the nature of the pharaoh as both Horus and Osiris with the pharaoh in life being Horus and becoming Osiris in death, where he was united with the rest of the gods. New incarnations of Horus succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new pharaohs. This pectoral presents a common depiction of Horus seen in the ancient world with large, colorful wings and a sun disc above its head.

This pectoral was inspired by an amulet in gold from the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62) exhibited at the Cairo Museum (JE 61893).