Carpet with Garden Design
1 of 85
Object Label
Egyptian Metalwork
Egyptian artisans used both local and imported metals to make jewelry, vessels, tools, and other objects like the ones displayed here.
Gold existed as a pure metal in the desert east of Luxor and farther south in Nubia, whose name means “Gold Land,” but silver had to be imported from Crete, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia. Most electrum (a natural alloy of gold and silver) was brought from Nubia, but some was made in Egypt. Copper was the most commonly used metal in ancient Egypt.
Beginning in the late Middle Kingdom or shortly thereafter, workers learned how to produce bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, from metalsmiths in western Asia. By the New Kingdom, metalworkers had mastered techniques that are still practiced today, including hammering, soldering, burnishing, engraving, repoussé (creating a raised image on a metal sheet), sheetworking, and casting. In sheetworking—used to make bowls, basins, and some thin jewelry— rough metal slabs called ingots were hammered into thin sheets and shaped into the desired form. Individual sheets could be joined with rivets or by soldering. Workers made tools, statues, and thick jewelry such as rings by pouring molten metal into molds. While many Middle Kingdom objects were solid cast, by the end of the period artisans had learned the lost-wax method of casting, producing hollow metal pieces around a clay core.
Caption
Carpet with Garden Design, 18th century. Wool pile on cotton foundation, symmetrical knot, 110 x 71 in. (279.4 x 180.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Joseph V. McMullan, gift of the Beaupre Charitable Trust in memory of Joseph V. McMullan, 84.140.16. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 84.140.16_colorcorrected_SL1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Carpet with Garden Design
Date
18th century
Geography
Place made: Northwest, Iran
Medium
Wool pile on cotton foundation, symmetrical knot
Classification
Dimensions
110 x 71 in. (279.4 x 180.3 cm)
Credit Line
Bequest of Mrs. Joseph V. McMullan, gift of the Beaupre Charitable Trust in memory of Joseph V. McMullan
Accession Number
84.140.16
Rights
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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