Description Sistrum
Turquoise glazed faience
Height appx. 165 mm, width appx. 40 mm, depth appx. 19 mm
Late period, XXVI-XXX Dynasty around 600-300 BC
Provenance: Private collection Austria
Charles Ede Certificate of Authenticity no. 5558
The rattling instrument mainly used in the cult of Hathor possibly goes back to an old custom to set a tuft of dried papyrus plants into rustling motion by fast and rhythmic shaking in honour of the goddess. Two different forms were used: either bow or naos sistrum.
The one here is a Naos sistrum: Above the handle with a (hardly decipherable) hieroglyphic inscription, which probably gives the name of the temple dancer, there is a portrait of Hathor with a long wig, broad necklace (Aegis) and her characteristic cow ears on both sides. On her head she wears the mentioned Naos, which has three perforations for bronze rods on each side, on which small round metal plates were threaded.
Expert: Dr. Helmut Satzinger, Professor of Egyptology, University of Vienna
Former Keeper of ‘The Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection’, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Literature: Christiane Ziegler, “Catalogue des instruments de musique égyptiens”, Paris 1979, pp. 31-40
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