The ancient Egyptians believed that the dung beetle, the Scarabaeus sacer, was one of the manifestations of the sun god. Representations of these beetles were used as amulets, and for ritual or administrative purposes.
<p>This scarab has a bottom inscription with a vertical cartouche containing the name of King Thutmose I. The royal cartouche is combined with a large bee and a very small sun disc; an oval line frames the whole inscription.
</p><p>The highest point of the back is the elytron (wing cases). Double lines separate pronotum (dorsal plate of the protorax) and elytron, as well as the wing cases. The incised lines arge thick, and the line flow regular. The semicircular head is flanked by quarter-spherical eyes, which are separated from the head with double lines. The trapezoidal side plates have outer borderlines, and a large clypeus (front plate) is marked. The sides show deeply carved extremities in natural form. The round-oval base is symmetrical.
</p><p>The scarab is longitudinally pierced, was originally mounted or threaded, and used as an amulet. It should secure royal authority (cartouche) and divine (solar) kingship (bee) for this ruler, and provide a private owner with the royal patronage of the current ruler.
</p>
The combination of a large bee with a small sun disk behind its body is rare. The round-oval forms of the scarab, as well as the shape of the bee with very long curved feelers, are typical for the early 18th Dynasty.
<div class="fn value">
<span lang="en">Anonymous</span> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Egypt" class="extiw" title="w:en:Egypt"><span title="sovereign state in North Africa and Asia">Egypt</span></a>)<span style="display:none">Unknown author</span></div>
between 1504 and 1492 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Ante_Christum_Natum" class="extiw" title="w:en:Ante Christum Natum">BC</a> <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,-1500-00-00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,-1504-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,-1492-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:New_Kingdom_of_Egypt" class="extiw" title="w:en:New Kingdom of Egypt"><span title="period from 1550 to 1077 BC in ancient Egypt">New Kingdom of Egypt</span></a><div style="display: none;">era QS:P2348,Q180568</div>)
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Walters_Art_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:en:Walters Art Museum"><span title="art museum in Baltimore, Maryland, United States">Walters Art Museum</span></a>: <a href="https://thewalters.org/" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Nuvola filesystems folder home.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/20px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/30px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/40px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://thewalters.org/">Home page</a> <a href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/80010" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Information icon.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/80010">Info about artwork</a>