Hi Wm1771,
Working from photos can be problematic, especially with ancient
Egyptian faience where subtle tones/hues of color become extremely important. From the muddy pea soup green color my monitor displayed, I thought it was a
fake but after reading your post, I changed my mind.
I would venture to say it is a broad collar element and originally it
had a suspension ring on the top and on the bottom. These items tend to be extremely delicate, and the suspension
rings were "glued" in position with a tiny dab of
faience. Many of these
rings have broken off over the millennia for more than one reason. Broad collars with extremely delicate elements were not made to be worn by the living, they were probably funerary. Those produced for the living were made from gold or other durable materials.
Broad collars go back to the Old Kingdom, but your element is no earlier than the 18th Dynasty, or perhaps, later; even as late as the 25th/26th Dynasty when the Egyptians
had an 'antique revival craze" and emulated the styles (and sometimes rivaled the
quality) of bygone Dynasties.
The use of
nefer signs in broad collars is not common. For some examples, see:
Andrews, Carol.
Amulets of Ancient
Egypt. Austin/London, 1994: page 87, figure 89. And Samson,
Julia. Amarna, City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
London, 1972: Page 83, University College Acquisition Number UC1110. You already mentioned
Petrie. I also checked Reisiner's two volumes of
Amulets in the Cairo Museum (
Catalogue General) but this amulet/element was not listed.
Yours may be 18th Dynasty; you can also be cool and be vague by calling it
New Kingdom.
I
hope this helps.
Russ