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Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · statue

Falcon Reliquary

Source of record: Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

<p>This statuette, likely dedicated to the falcon-god Horus, is missing its crown and eye inlays. The structure of the feathers is carefully incised. The base is inscribed with texts of adoration and prayer. Examination through the hole in the head revealed bird bones that had been wrapped in linen and placed inside through a trap door between the statuette's legs. A neutron-induced radiograph also reveals the presence of bones inside the reliquary.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/54.547' rel='external'>Falcon Reliquary</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

Bronze falcon-shaped reliquary figure standing over a rectangular base, photographed in profile.

The image shows a patinated bronze object modeled as a seated/standing falcon with wings folded against the body and a long tail extending to the right. The bird’s head is rounded with defined beak and eye, and the feet grip the top surface of a rectangular pedestal. The pedestal has incised or engraved linear decoration and appears to carry faint, geometric/possibly hieroglyphic-like marks, though the image resolution does not allow secure reading. No clear standalone cartouches are visible. No other inscriptions in Greek/Coptic/Arabic are apparent. Materials visible include bronze (dark green/brown patina). The presence of bird bones or linen cannot be confirmed from the photograph.

religious unclear good
Deities Falcon-associated divinity (Horus) — unclear
Materials bronze (patinated)

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1

English description

[Translation] To be recited: Osiris-Wennefer, the Great God, Lord of Heaven, Royal Youth, wearing the white crown, who went forth from the body of the two uraeus serpents, the uraeus is upon the great forehead of the one who has dwelt in the body of Nut. To be recited: Osiris who rules in the west, may he give life, health, long lifetime, and a long and good age to Iwer-hotep-her-nebef, son of Ren-ef-hesy.

Connections

Deities Horus

Cross-references (2)

  • Walters-AccNum 54.547 tier-2
  • Walters-id 3683 tier-2

Similar inscriptions · by content embedding

About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.