Faience wedjat eye amulet

Glazed composition 'wedjat' eye amulet: this openwork composite 'wedjat' eye amulet is pierced from side to side at the centre so that it could be worn. It is made from pale turquoise blue glazed composition, with details in yellow and black glaze and has a flat plain underside. Its basic design is the eye and eyebrow of the lanner falcon, the bird form adopted by the celestial creator god Horus, whose right and left eyes were the sun and moon respectively. However, the drop and curl markings that characterize the eye, and should appear beneath the lower rim, have been transformed into a falcon's leg with foot and a falcon's wing. The area in front of the bird's leg is filled by an upreared cobra wearing a sun disc, its coiled body arching up behind the puffed up hood. At the back of the wing is a papyrus flanked by buds; between the wing and leg is a human eye. The entire design is set on a reed mat, its bindings carefully delineated.