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Necklace

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

The Egyptians worked with gold and semiprecious stones from earliest times. They mined both types of material in the desert east of the Nile and in present-day Sudan, called “Nubia” in ancient times after the ancient Egyptian word for gold (nub). Clearly, objects made from these high-value materials were available only to the highest ranks of society.
MEDIUM Gold, beryl, silver
  • Place Collected: Egypt
  • DATES 1st century C.E.
    PERIOD Roman Period (probably)
    DIMENSIONS Necklace: 13 9/16 in. (34.4 cm) long; Bes figure: 1 x 7.16 in. (2.6 x 1.1 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 16.149
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Gold necklace. Eighteen beads, hexagonal cylindrical, each strung on a gold wire the ends bent to form double loops. In center the god Bes, wearing feather headdress, with inlaid eyes of gold, pierced in back and threaded in wire. At one end of the chain a hook, at the other an openwork clasp containing 4 pellets, attached to a loop. Condition: Perfect.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Necklace, 1st century C.E. Gold, beryl, silver, Necklace: 13 9/16 in. (34.4 cm) long; Bes figure: 1 x 7.16 in. (2.6 x 1.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Evangeline Wilbour Blashfield, Theodora Wilbour, and Victor Wilbour honoring the wishes of their mother, Charlotte Beebe Wilbour, as a memorial to their father, Charles Edwin Wilbour, 16.149. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 16.149_PS2.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 16.149_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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