A pendant depicting a ba-bird with outstretched wings

A pendant depicting a ba-bird with outstretched wings

A pendant depicting a ba-bird with outstretched wings

Period:Late Period
Dynasty:Dynasty 26–30
Date:664–332 B.C.
Geography:From Egypt
Medium:Gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian
Dimensions:L. 5 × W. 2.9 × D. 0.7 cm (1 15/16 × 1 1/8 × 1/4 in.)
Credit Line:Anonymous Gift, in memory of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1913

Ba-bird amulets, like this rare beautifully inlaid example, were placed on the chest of a mummy, presumably as protective substitute for an individual’s own ba. The ba-bird was the part of a human activated after death: it was commissioned to visit the world of living as well as oversee critical events during the deceased’s passage from this world to the next. The earliest, a gold foil example, was included in Tutankhamun’s mummy (ca. 1327 B.C.), but those of Dynasty 26 and later (664-332 B.C.), parallel the one here.

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