Harness finial Acc. no. 9659
I recently discovered this small object in storage while looking for a piece suitable for visitors to touch on our handling table. Initially, I was unsure of the function of the object (accession number 9659) and invited opinions. Answers ranged from vessel to candle-holder, stamp to spinning implement.
In fact, based on comparison with other artefacts of the same type, this object can be identified as a harness finial from a chariot. It would have been attached onto the yolk between two horses, and would have enabled the reins to run smoothly to control the animals.
A finial in situ on one of the harnesses from Tutankhamun’s tomb © Sandro Vaninni http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandrovannini/4284540920/
A striking parallel in shape and size occurs on one of the chariots from the tomb of Tutankhamun. Interestingly, both seem to have the same deliberate wear or ‘dents’ cut into the upper rim.
Although our example is identified in the catalogue as made of ‘travertine/alabaster’, it seems more likely on close inspection to be made from ivory. The smooth, milky material resembles the stone but has the destinctive criss-cross Schraeger pattern of elephant ivory.
An inscription runs symmetrically around the top of the piece, and reads:
Live, the son of Re, Amenhotep, his fear in the lands…
Unusually, the name Amenhotep is not enclosed in a cartouche, but this name dates the piece to the 18th Dynasty (c. 1550-1295 BC). It seems likely to refer to either Amenhotep III (c. 1390-1352 BC) or his ancestor Amenhotep II (c. 1427-1400 BC) – a famously athletic and war-like king.
The ‘lands’ mentioned in the inscription is an unusual way of referring to foreign countries; Egypt was defined as the ‘Two Lands’, the archetypal united kingdom. But foreign lands were characterised by their chaotic multiplicity, and so the short-hand of ‘three’ (or ‘many’) sums up the multitude lands who were unknown but afraid of the power of the king. A statement about the fear of the king suits the power of the horse, and the chariot, as vehicles of war.
Volunteers Vivian and Patricia discuss the harness finial with visitors
Sadly, the findspot of this object – which was collected by George Spiegelberg, the brother of a famous German Egyptologist called Wilhelm) – is not known. Stables are have been identified at palace sites, such as the Ramesside Delta capital Pi-Ramesse, but Memphis or Thebes would be more suited to an 18th Dynasty piece, naming Amenhotep. Who knows – perhaps this came from a chariot driven by the king himself?
The details of this object (and, yes, a bit of inference) certainly make for an interesting tale, and one that has already captured the imagination of visitors now able to touch this very tactile piece. I am particularly grateful to the very knowledgeable volunteers on the handling table for suggestions and helpful pointers to comparative images for this and other objects. Each of them tell the stories of these objects daily, and always succeed in bringing them to life.
Egypt at the Manchester Museum 
What an exquisite object despite its incomplete condition! If more of the inscription were preserved I think that one might have found a parallelism such as tAw [xAswt] which I’ve seen paralleled in the 18th Dyn. and which I recall has been translated “the lowlands and the uplands” or something similar, I’m pretty sure it was in Barbara Cumming’s translations of historical texts. The word tAw also occurs in the expression tAw fnxw “lands of the Fenekhu.” What about the traces on the other side of the anx???
Thanks for those parallels, Ed. Do you know of parallels for ‘Amenhotep’ without cartouche? I’d imagined ‘nTr nfr’ going around the other side – it would be nice if the other half turned up!