![]() Sithathoryunet’s pectoral ( 16.1.3a) was made using the cloisonné inlay technique: scores of hammered gold strips known as cloisons, a French word for partitions, form cells on the gold back plate assembled from multiple hammered sheets and several cast elements. has not yet been well studied during the Roman Period, mercury gilding, an import from East Asia, became the most common process for gilding silver or cupreous substrates used in the Mediterranean world, and it remained so into early modern times.Įxcavations at Dahshur, Lahun, and Hawara in the early twentieth century unearthed much jewelry that belonged to elite women associated with the royal courts of the Dynasty 12 kings Senwosret II and Amenemhat III. Its probable use in Egypt during the late first millennium B.C. A fusion process for gilding silver was developed in the Near East, most likely in Iran. During Ptolemaic and Roman times, gilded glass jewelry was popular in Egypt ( 10.130.1521). Gold inlays were also used to enhance works in other media, especially bronze statuary ( 29.2.3). On the broad collar, the leaf was applied onto a layer of gesso (plaster with an adhesive gum) over linen on the scarab, a somewhat thicker foil was crimped between the bronze mount and the stone scarab. Gold leaf as thin as one micron was produced even in ancient times, and thicker foils or sheets were applied mechanically or with an adhesive to impart a golden surface to a broad range of other materials, including the wood of Hapiankhtifi’s model broad collar ( 12.183.16) dating to Dynasty 12, and the bronze mount of a basalt heart scarab ( ) dating to the New Kingdom. Malleability, a physical property shared by many metals and most pronounced for gold, is the ability to be hammered into thin sheets, and it is in this form that most gold artifacts from ancient Egypt survive: solid, cast gold objects, such as a ram’s-head amulet dated to the Kushite Period, are generally small and relatively rare ( 1989.281.98). Small stone vessels that had been sealed with hammered sheets of gold textured to resemble animal hide and tied down with gold wire “string” were also found in the royal tomb. It was made from a broad band of hammered gold sheet. ![]() Overall, relatively few gold pieces survive from the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods, which are represented in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection by a small bangle bracelet from the tomb of Khasekhemwy, the last ruler of Dynasty 2 ( 01.4.2). The survival of gold artifacts is skewed by accidents of history and excavation Egyptian sites have been looted since ancient times, and much precious metal was melted down long ago. A ring dated to the Amarna Period depicting Shu and Tefnut illustrates a rare occasion when an Egyptian goldsmith added a significant amount of copper to a natural gold-silver alloy to attain a reddish hue ( 26.7.767). In fact, the pendant contains gold and silver in nearly equal amounts and is therefore electrum, a natural alloy of gold containing more than 20 percent silver, as defined by the ancient Roman author, naturalist, philosopher, and historian Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis historia. The color of a metal is affected by its composition: gradations in hue that range between the bright yellow of a central boss that once embellished a vessel dating to the Third Intermediate Period ( 30.8.371) and the paler grayish yellow of a Middle Kingdom uraeus pendant ( 26.8.81) are due to the natural presence of lesser or greater amounts of silver. ![]() The gold used by the Egyptians generally contains silver, often in substantial amounts, and it appears that for most of Egypt’s history gold was not refined to increase its purity. ![]() Gold jewelry intended for daily life or use in temple or funerary ritual continued to be produced throughout Egypt’s long history. these are mostly beads and other modest items used for personal adornment. The hieroglyph for gold-a broad collar-appears with the beginning of writing in Dynasty 1, but the earliest surviving gold artifacts date to the preliterate days of the fourth millennium B.C. In addition to the resources of the Eastern Desert, Egypt had access to the riches of Nubia, which is reflected in its ancient name, nbw (the Egyptian word for gold). Egypt is a land rich in gold, and ancient miners employing traditional methods were thorough in their exploitation of economically feasible sources. ![]()
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