Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · jewelry

Scarab with Wish Formula

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Accession: 42.8
Dynasty: 21st-22nd Dynasty
Date: ca. 1070-736 BCE (Third Intermediate Period)
Date range: 1082 BCE – 736 BCE
Materials: ['steatite, light beige with glaze, originally blue or green (?)']
Repository: Walters Art Museum
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Cite & export

Walters Art Museum (Egyptian), Scarab with Wish Formula (42.8). Egyptian Inscriptions Database. https://egyptianinscriptions.org/object/220580

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Description

<p>This steatite scarab is inscribed on the flat underside in sunk relief. The vertically arranged column writing is a request to ensure the social status of a member of an elite group. The design of the back of the scarab is very detailed, with deeply incised lines and slightly irregular line flow. The piece is simply made and its workmanship is slightly rough. This scarab functioned as a status specific amulet with a blessing for a member of the elite. The amulet should express/secure that the owner is notable, prestigious, and well equipped in the royal court/palace. The piece would have originally been mounted or threaded. The term "Golden Horus" as the name of a god does not appear before the Ptolemaic period, and it is very unlikely that this scarab dates from that period or that this deity would have been mentioned so early.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/42.8' rel='external'>Scarab with Wish Formula</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.

A circular/ovoid scarab seal in light beige stone bears incised, darkened hieroglyphic signs forming a “wish formula.”

The object is a scarab-shaped amuletic seal (top view) with a domed back and an incised design on the visible face. The main surface contains a dense arrangement of dark, incised signs that read like Egyptian hieroglyphs rather than a figurative scene. Notable visible elements include multiple stacked horizontal bars and vertical strokes, plus curved/loop-like components consistent with stylized hieroglyphic forms. No clearly readable full inscription is present at this resolution, though the overall character matches a formula-like text arrangement commonly used on scarabs. The stone surface appears light beige with discoloration and areas of pitting or abrasion; there are no distinct bronze/metal features. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic script is visible.

hieroglyphic only unknown poor

Materials light beige stone (steatite/possibly glazed surface, exact glaze color unclear)

Signs Incised hieroglyphic wish-formula text (individual signs not reliably legible) ×10

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1

English description

[Translation] May the noble be in the palace of the Golden Horus.

Connections

Deities Horus

Cross-references (2)

Walters-AccNum 42.8 tier-2
Walters-id 28819 tier-2

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.