Cartouche Amulet

The amulet in the form of a blank royal cartouche represents an elongated shen-knot. This symbol was formed from a length of papyrus rope looped around into a circle and knotted multiple times on the underside. The shen represented everything the sun god encircled during the course of twenty-four hours, literally the whole universe; it also had connotations of protecting what was within it in its function of a magical knot. From the time of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2592–2218 BC) the throne and birth names of the pharaohs were written inside an elongated shen-ring symbolising the universal power of the ruler. Blank cartouche amulets, however, are characteristic of Late Period burials (664–332 BC) from the Twenty-sixth dynasty onward. Similar amulets were placed on the upper torso of the mummies of commoners. They were made most commonly from lapis lazuli, like this example, or dark-coloured stones. Possession of a cartouche amulet, preferably combined with a shen-sign amulet, would grant the deceased universal power and protection in the afterlife.