Egyptian Figure of the Goddess Wadjet

The goddess Wadjet is a guardian deity of Lower Egypt and the Pharaohs. She was considered the Mistress of the Skies and symbolized the heat of the Sun.Her burning rays signified the force of growth, the fertility of the ground and of the water. She was represented in the form of a woman with a lion’s head. The Egyptians always worshipped the lioness as a god, while, at the same time, they feared the strength and danger she represents. In our statuette, she appears seated with her hands in front of her on her lap, and wears a close-fitting dress that reaches her ankles, with an ample necklace and a three-part wig with rectangular stepped curls. On top of her head there is a short shaft perforated in the middle that undoubtedly served to attach her crown. Her feet rest on a small pedestal that bears an inscription on the front that can be translated as “May Wadjet give Prbkhr, the son of Hor, life.” The sides of the throne are finely engraved with a stepped pattern and a union of plants from Upper and Lower Egypt, each one within a tablet with an interwoven band above. The posterior part features an engraving of the falcon Horus with its wings outspread and holding a solar disk with a cobra and a papyrus flower grasped in its left talon.