Collar; bead; pendant - British Museum Collection
Inventory Number: EA40928 Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 11, 2020BC (circa) (circa) Location Information: Qena (Governorate): Luxor West Bank (Thebes): Deir el-Bahri (Thebes)
Description:
A broad collar ('wesekh'): consisting of five rows of beads, two semicircular terminals and seven mummiform pendants, all of glazed composition. Four of the rows are of vertically strung cylindrical beads connected only at the ends. The longer beads are in the centre of the collar, the shorter ones at the sides. The top row is of white glazed composition, the second of bright-blue, the third of white and the outermost row of purplish glazed composition. The last colour, not common until the Eighteenth Dynasty is produced from manganese oxide. The fifth, topmost, row is composed of a single string of bright-blue and white cylinder beads strung lengthwise. In the centre of each of the five rows is a short loop of bright-blue glazed composition disc beads. The seven bright-blue glazed composition mummiform pendants are attached to the bottom row of beads. The two bright-blue semicircular terminals are undecorated. Each has a ridge along the underside which is pierced by six holes through which the threads holding the rows of beads are knotted.