<em>Scarab of Thutmose III Mounted in Ring</em>, ca. 1479–1425 B.C.E. Steatite, glaze, gold, 1/2 × 15/16 × 1 3/16 in. (1.3 × 2.4 × 3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.720E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.720E_overall01_PS22.jpg)

Scarab of Thutmose III Mounted in Ring, ca. 1479–1425 B.C.E. Steatite, glaze, gold, 1/2 × 15/16 × 1 3/16 in. (1.3 × 2.4 × 3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.720E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.720E_overall01_PS22.jpg)

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Were these worn as personal jewelry?

Rings and amulets like these were worn in life, and it was also common to bury a mummy adorned with jewelry.

You will see scarab beetles in a lot of jewelry, like the pieces here. To the Egyptians, the scarab represented the cycle of the sun and rebirth.

Dung beetles create balls of dung in which they lay their eggs and then roll the balls around the desert. When the eggs hatch they emerge from the dung ball as if by magic. Fascinated by this process, one Ancient Egyptian belief was that a similar beetle rolled the sun across the sky!

Scarab of Thutmose III Mounted in Ring

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Personal Arts

The reigns of Hatshepsut through Thutmose IV represent a transitional phase in Eighteenth Dynasty art.

At first, artists continued to favor simple, elegant forms common earlier in the dynasty, but eventually they developed elaborate, highly detailed designs that dominated the dynasty’s final decades. Under Amunhotep II and Thutmose IV, for example, craftsmen increased the use of a soft, pastel blue pigment that had been invented during the reign of Thutmose III. Potters also molded vessels in human and animal form, and artisans rediscovered the Middle Kingdom fascination for colorful stones such as red carnelian.

Art historians consider the scarabs (beetleshaped amulets) of this era among the finest ever made. Figure Vase of Woman Holding Dog

MEDIUM Steatite, glaze, gold

Place Made: Egypt

DATES ca. 1479–1425 B.C.E.

DYNASTY Dynasty 18

PERIOD New Kingdom

DIMENSIONS 1/2 × 15/16 × 1 3/16 in. (1.3 × 2.4 × 3 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 37.720E

CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Gold ring with green glazed steatite scarab set in a gold swivel bezel. The base of the scarab has the name Menkherperre written upon it twice. Condition: Glaze on the scarab worn in spots. Small nicks in the gold.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Scarab of Thutmose III Mounted in Ring, ca. 1479–1425 B.C.E. Steatite, glaze, gold, 1/2 × 15/16 × 1 3/16 in. (1.3 × 2.4 × 3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.720E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.720E_overall01_PS22.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 37.720E_overall01_PS22.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024

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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Were these worn as personal jewelry?

Rings and amulets like these were worn in life, and it was also common to bury a mummy adorned with jewelry.

You will see scarab beetles in a lot of jewelry, like the pieces here. To the Egyptians, the scarab represented the cycle of the sun and rebirth.