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. The cartouche is also surmounted by two tall ostrich plumes affording more potent magical protection to the amulet. 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 other 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.