A light blue glazed faience composition amulet depicting the goddess Nut as a sow, with teats below. Suspension loop to the top. The amulet is small but very well executed.
 
Egyptian Late Dynastic period: 7th-4th century B.C.
 
Condition: Complete and intact with light encrustations.
Length: 17.5 mms (0.7 ins).
 
For similar see C. Andrews, 'Amulets of Ancient Egypt' (London 1994), p.35; Provenance: From a UK collection of Professor M.C. acquired in the 1980's.
 
'The sky goddess whose arched body formed the vault of heaven gave birth to the sun each dawn and swallowed him each dusk; conversely, she bore the myriad stars each evening and gobbled them up each dawn. It is not surprising that, as mother of the stars, she should have taken the form of a great sow, for the female pig's habit of eating her own piglets must have been well known. Such amulets were intended to endow their wearer with fecundity' (Andrews: Amulets of Ancient Egypt; 1994:35)