Provenance
Standard early provenance.
Previous assessment
Winlock believed these plaques ancient (1948: 23f), as did Hayes (Hayes 1959b: 133), Aldred (1971: 215 no. 86), and Scott (N. Scott 1964: 225). They were always strung as a necklace with ring beads.
Aldred proposed that they had been formed by “hammering gold sheet into a mould incised with the squatting figure of the goddess Maet.” A. Wilkinson suggested that they were replacements for pectorals, not known from the tomb (1971; i37f). Reeves described them as “wholly modern” in an illustration of 304 and 306-7 (Reeves 2000: 150). His judgment was based on “style, technique, material, and feel” (communication, ii June 2001).
Current understanding
“Blue shield-shaped plaques, each bearing a figure of Maat” were noted in a New Kingdom burial at Saqqara (Quibell 1907: 9 no. 165). However, the shrine below is poorly shaped; the ankh is perched on the knee joint; there is poor delineation of the head; and the leftward orientation is unusual. To these formal considerations can be added technical points: engraving, labored joining (Baines), and hard soldering with little control.
308 Sixteen shrines with Maat facing left Fig. 255
MMA 26.8.65 (P 38, 147).
Source Purchase, Fletcher Fund, 1919, 1921. Material Gold (see Appendix 2).
Dimensions W of plaques 1.4.
Manufacture Shape of plaque similar to Maat-pendant 302 except goddess oriented left here.
Tube fastened on back runs entire width of cornice. Flooded solder at that point is porous and scraped away along top edge of amulet. Lines were engraved, and no impression is seen on the back. Proper rightmost plaque has a faint drawing on the back, done with a very fine point.
Bibliography Winlock 1948: pi. i4e; N. Scott 1964; % 5-
World History
