Egyptian Almandine Garnet Frog Amulet Bead

North Africa, Egypt, Late Period to Roman period. A miniature frog amulet carved from deep wine-red almandine garnet. The frog crouches compactly, as if ready to leap from a riverbank. Its hind legs are folded in neat, angular planes against the flanks, and its forelegs are tucked beneath a wedge-shaped head. Two domed, polished eyes rise from the crown. Working a stone as hard as garnet into a figure took patient abrasion with harder grits, and the glossy surface shows the effort. Small amulets like this were made to be strung and worn close to the body. In Egypt the frog stood for fertility, creation, and endless renewal. For the living it likely promised fruitfulness and a safe childbirth. Placed with the dead, it was perhaps meant to secure rebirth in the afterlife. Few creatures suited the Egyptian idea of renewal better than the frog. After each Nile flood the fields were suddenly full of them, and they seemed to rise straight out of the fertile mud and multiply without end. That impression made the frog a natural emblem of spontaneous creation and fecundity. Scribes used a tadpole as the hieroglyph for 100,000, a number they associated with the swarms that followed the inundation. The frog was also the sacred animal of Heqet, a goddess of childbirth who was often shown with a frog's head and was said to breathe life into the newly formed child. Frog amulets in faience and semiprecious stone were very popular. Women wore them in hope of an easy delivery, and both men and women carried them in expectation of being reborn after death. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 205861

Schätzpreis:€359.43

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