A statuette of a pantheistic deity with the face of the god Bes. It is made of bronze inlaid with gold, and is dated either to Late Period or Ptolemaic Period (7th-1st Century BC).

"Despite his appearance, which changed in many details over time, Bes was deemed beneficent to humans and he was accepted by all classes of Egyptians as a powerful apotropaic deity. He was especially associated with the protection of children and of pregnant women and those giving birth..." Bes was believed to provide protection from snakes among other noxious forces; this statuette shows him in motion stepping on serpents. But Bes was also associated with many of the good things in life: sex, music, and merriment.

"... [In] his later composite form Bes is depicted as the head and sometimes body of a four-armed, winged and many-headed god with the tail of a falcon and the attributes of many of the deities with whom he was combined..."

― Wilkinson, Richard H., The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson Inc., New York, USA, 2017.

This piece (FGA-ARCH-EG-0170) is now in the Fondation Gandur pour l'Art, Geneva, Switzerland.

Photo (edited for size): André Longchamp / © Fondation Gandur pour l'Art

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