Skip Navigation

Teardrop Beads and Uraeus-Amulet

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

On View: Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
Necklaces

Most ancient Egyptians owned at least one necklace.


The simplest examples were made of tiny beads of shell, bone, faience, metal, or glazed steatite. More complex versions had beads in the form of amulets, including uraeus-cobras, wedjat-eyes (the eye of the falcon-god Horus, symbolizing wholeness), scarabs (charms in the form of beetles), or images of gods such as Hathor. Individual beads as well as complete necklaces had significance. Beads reproducing fruits or flowers, such as the examples in this case, were believed to enhance fertility. Military officers presented fly necklaces to valiant soldiers to acknowledge their tenacity in battle.
MEDIUM Glass
  • Place Made: Egypt
  • DATES ca. 1390–1292 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 18
    PERIOD New Kingdom
    DIMENSIONS 5/16 x 41 3/4 in. (0.8 x 106 cm) Uraeus Pendant: 1 1/16 x 1/2 in. (2.7 x 1.2 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 05.577
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Egyptian Orientation Gallery, 3rd Floor
    CAPTION Teardrop Beads and Uraeus-Amulet, ca. 1390–1292 B.C.E. Glass, 5/16 x 41 3/4 in. (0.8 x 106 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 05.577. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.05.577_NegA_print_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.05.577_NegA_print_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2013
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    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.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.