Ancient Egypt, First Intermediate Period, 8th to 9th Dynasty, ca. 2181 to 2140 BCE. Perhaps one of the most unique and unusual Egyptian artifacts, a hand-carved black obsidian amulet known as a pesesh-kef (PsS-kf in Egyptian) used during a funerary ritual called the "Opening of the Mouth." The petite tool exhibits mottled beige speckles within the dark matrix, a slender shaft with a bifurcated base that curls into a pair of upturned points, and an integral suspension loop on the verso. The top of the enigmatic tool features a highly stylized visage characteristic of First Intermediate examples - with full lips, a triangular nose, and beady eyes - but with an unusual pleated wig reminiscent of the signature pharaonic nemes headdress. Miniature pesesh-kef amulets like this example are rare due to contemporaries being of a larger, handheld size for ritual use and are typically without a human face. Size: 1.55" L x 0.71" W (3.9 cm x 1.8 cm)

Cf. a carnelian example with a gold head at The British Museum, museum number EA30848; for additional information on the pesesh-kef, please see: Roth, Ann Macy. "The PsS-kf and the 'Opening of the Mouth' Ceremony: A Ritual of Birth and Rebirth." Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 78 (1992), pp. 113-147.

For additional information about the "Opening of the Mouth" ceremony, please see the Global Egyptian Museum article entitled "Opening of the Mouth ritual."

Provenance: private Boynton Beach, Florida, USA collection; ex-Sands of Time Ancient Art, Washington, DC, USA; ex-Alex Malloy collection, Charles Town, West Virginia, USA, before 2010

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#170761

Petite nicks and abrasions along blade body, with very light encrustations within some string-cut grooves, otherwise intact and choice. Wonderful preservation to carved facial details and pleats of wig. Very light remains of original stringing within suspension hole on verso.