169 34 Jewellery (a – d) New Kingdom–Late Period, c. 1539–332 BCE; (e – f ) New Kingdom (?), c. 1539–1077 BCE (a, c – e) Faience; (b) Carnelian, stone, faience; (f ) Carnelian (a) L. 39 cm; (b) L. 19 cm; (c) L. 16 cm; (d) L. 44 cm; (e) H. 2.3, W. 1.2, D. 2.2, Diam. 1.6 cm; (f ) Diam. 1.3, D. 0.3 cm (a – d, f ) Purchased from the estate of Carl Gemming, Nuremberg, in 1881; (e) purchased from Alessandro Ricci, Florence, in 1831 Skulpturensammlung, Inv. nos. (a) Aeg 137, (b) Aeg 140, (c) Aeg 142, (d) Aeg 152, (e) Aeg 176, (f ) Aeg 124(1) These four necklaces consist mainly of faience elements of different shapes. They have been threaded in modern times, so that their combination is random or modelled on precedents. In the absence of a find context, it is difficult to date this jewellery. The first necklace (a) contains 19 amulets in the shape of the djed pillar. According to Ancient Egyptian belief, this represents the spine of Osiris, the god of the dead (cat. nos. 7 b, 25). It stands for “durability”, “stability” and “permanence”. Every deceased person hoped to be resurrected as Osiris in the afterlife. The second necklace (b) consists of nine heart pendants, seven made of a dark stone, one of carnelian, and one of blue-green faience. The heart offers protection and is a substitute for the real heart; it symbolises the life force of the deceased and is intended to vouch for him in the Judgement of the Dead (cat. nos. 23 c, d, 25, 29). Eight papyrus stems or columns of different sizes hang from necklace (c). The hieroglyph for papyrus, wadj, also signifies “green”, “fresh” and “youthful”. The papyrus may therefore symbolise the rejuvenation of the deceased in the afterlife (cat. no. 25). The fourth necklace (d) bears 14 of the udjat eye pendants that were extremely popular from the Old Kingdom to the Roman Period. The word udjat is translated as “intact, healthy, complete”. It represents the eye of the god Horus, which was injured in the mythical battle with his uncle Seth and was healed again by the god Thoth (cat. nos. 7, 11 c, 25). In the necklaces (a – c), two tubular beads, each with a round bead set between them, function as intermediate elements. In chain (d), only tubular beads have been used. These beads probably did not originally belong to necklaces, but rather to a bead-net of a mummy (cat. no. 24). Although it was indeed common for amulets to be joined together with connecting links, the original use of the amulets now on the Dresden necklaces is unknown today. It was also popular to design the bezels of faience rings (e) as an udjat eye. Such rings are characteristic of the New Kingdom and were found en masse in el-Amarna, the capital of Egypt during the reigns of kings Akhenaten to Tutankhamun. The small rings with a narrow aperture (f ), which are called ear, hair, or dress rings, are also interesting. It is unclear whether these rings were put through a hole in the earlobe, were merely attached to the ear lobe at the opening, were used as hair or wig rings to adorn individual locks of hair, or were used as ring brooches to decorate clothing. Jewellery was omnipresent in the life of the Egyptians, both on the worldly plane and in the afterlife. It was worn not only by women, but also by men and children. Headbands, hair wreaths, and other hair ornaments, collars and necklaces, earrings and finger rings, bracelets and anklets, and ornamental belts, were by no means merely decorative. In addition to neutral shapes (e. g. beads), these items of jewellery also often had figural forms and were intended to ward off evil as amulets and guarantee the wearer vitality, protection, and health in this world, as well as regeneration and resurrection in the afterlife. The colour and other properties of the material often played a role and signified specific things. For example, blue and green stood for renewal and regeneration, red for the sun or blood. MG Selected Bibliography: (a) Hettner 1881: 142 no. 126; cat. Leipzig 1989: no. 178; cat. Dresden 1993: 37 fig.; (b) Hettner 1881: 137 no. 35, 142 no. 121; cat. Dresden 1977: 64 no. 310; cat. Leipzig 1989: no. 179; cat. Dresden 1993: 37 fig.; cat. Dresden 1995: 18 no. 1.01.14; (c) Hettner 1881: 142 no. 116; cat. 1977: 64 no. 306; cat. Leipzig 1989: no. 180; (d) Hettner 1881: 144 no. 172; cat. Leipzig 1989: no. 176; (e) Hettner 1881: 138 no. 53; cat. Dresden 1977: 53 no. 171; cat. Leipzig 1989: no. 184; (f ) cat. Dresden 1977: 52 no. 165; cat. Leipzig 1989: no. 188 a Literature: Andrews 1990; cat. Berlin 2015; cat. Hildesheim 2006
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