The pesesh-kef was a ritual instrument with fish tail ends1, used for the opening of the mouth ceremony, so that the dead can eat, drink, speak and breathe2. Rare from the First Intermediate Period are topped by a human head, sometimes in different materials1. From the New Kingdom onwards the amulet was simplified2 and mainly in dark materials (obsidian, basalt and black steatite1,2))
Black steatite with back suspension loop
H 4.0, W 1.8, D 1.3
First Intermediate Period
Courtesy Alex Peck
Basalt H 2.5, W 1.0, T 0.4
Late Period
Brooklyn Museum
#05.381
Greywacke
H 3.8, W 1.9, T 0.6
Undated
© Musée du Louvre/
Antiquités égyptiennes
#N 4698
References
1Andrews C. Amulets of Ancient Egypt, 1994, pp. 83-84, Fig. 64n
2Petrie W M F. Amulets, 1914, see drawing p. 17