Colour plays an important part in Egyptian jewellery. This love of
colour was displayed in the use of glazed ware, incorrectly termed
porcelain, but properly a faience, much employed for all articles, as
necklaces, scarabs, and rings, and particularly for the various kinds of
amulets which were largely worn as personal ornaments. The most usual
and beautiful was the cupreous glaze of a blue or apple-green colour;
yellow, violet, red, and white are also met with, but less frequently,
and chiefly at later periods. But colour showed itself above all in the
surface decoration of jewellery, produced by the application of coloured
stones and the imitation of these inserted in cells of gold prepared for
them. The chief materials employed for the purpose were lapis-lazuli,
turquoise, root of emerald or green felspar, jasper, and obsidian,
besides various opaque glasses imitating them.
With the exception of enamel upon metal, which is only found in Egypt in
quite late periods, the Egyptians appear to have been acquainted with
all the processes of jewellery now in use. Chasing and engraving they
preferred to all other modes of ornamenting metal-work, as these methods
enhanced the beauty of their jewels while retaining a level surface.
They were also highly skilled in soldering and in the art of repoussé
work. The great malleability of gold enabled them to overlay ornaments
of silver, bronze, and even stone with thin leaves of this metal; while
ornaments were also composed entirely of plates of gold of extreme
thinness. In articles where frequent repetition occurs, for instance,
in necklaces, patterns were produced by pressure in moulds, and then
soldered together.
Examples of jewellery furnished by the Egyptian tombs are to be found in
the museums of almost every country. Undoubtedly the finest collection
is in the Viceregal Museum of Egyptian Antiquities at Cairo. It contains
jewels of the earliest dynasties, very few of which are to be found
outside it. Dating from the great Theban dynasties, the eighteenth and
nineteenth, when the jeweller's art reached its highest level, are many
beautiful examples, notably the famous set of jewels discovered in the
tomb of Queen [.A][=a]h-[h.]etep (1600 B.C.). Fine collections are also
preserved in the British Museum, in Berlin, Munich, and in the Louvre.
Following the sequence of ornaments from the head downwards, mention
must first be made of diadems or frontlets. These were composed either
of ring ornaments, set with precious stones and strung in a variety of
ways, which hung down over the temples, or of gold bands ornamented in
cloisonné inlay with the favourite allegorical representations of
animals in various arrangements. In the case of royal personages there
is a uræus in front.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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