Necklace
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Middle Kingdom Jewelry
Gracious taste, arresting design, and technical mastery of materials characterize Middle Kingdom jewelry.
Jewelers elevated their craft to a level of artistic accomplishment unrivaled in Egyptian history. They refrained from excess, choosing simple, clean forms and understated color patterns. For instance, unlike flamboyant examples from the later New Kingdom, Middle Kingdom necklaces were usually monochromatic and almost never included beads of more than three colors. The most expensive jewelry featured beads made of gold; because it never tarnishes, gold was called the “flesh of the gods” and conveyed immortality.
Jewelers of the Middle Kingdom also relied on certain attractive semiprecious stones that had appeared only sporadically in the Old Kingdom. Red carnelian represented blood’s life-giving properties, and green turquoise symbolized vegetation and fertility and thus resurrection. Purple amethyst and pale blue anhydrite, however, seem to have had no magical powers and were admired solely for their visual appeal.
Caption
Necklace, ca. 1938–1759 B.C.E.. Rock crystal, amethyst, and an unidentified stone, 17 1/4 in. (43.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society , 26.160. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.26.160_erg2.jpg)
Title
Necklace
Date
ca. 1938–1759 B.C.E.
Dynasty
Dynasty 12
Period
Middle Kingdom
Geography
Place excavated: Abydos, Egypt
Medium
Rock crystal, amethyst, and an unidentified stone
Classification
Dimensions
17 1/4 in. (43.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the Egypt Exploration Society
Accession Number
26.160
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
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Frequent Art Questions
How do they determine which beads comprised a necklace? What material was used to string the beads originally? How could an intact necklace survive 3700 years or more?
There's definitely a lot of guesswork, but intact burials might include a set of beads neatly arranged exactly as they were when they were strung. In excellent conditions, stringing does sometimes survive.They were originally strung using plant fibers spun into string, like something from the papyrus or flax!Ancient Egyptian tombs provide ideal conditions (dark and dry) for conservation. Its part of the same reason that we have Papyrus scrolls from so long ago which is made from similar, organic material.Archaeologists use the information from these intact necklaces as well as depictions of necklaces in art to determine how to arrange loose beads they find.I assumed they were all restrung.The ones you photographed are, but there are some special cases in which they don't have to be!Thank you so much!
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