Hi Folks,
I thought I would share some of my notes on ancient
Egyptian faience micro beads with the
hope that you would find this interesting.
For a bead to belong to this category, it must have an outside
diameter of 3 mm or less, the
average diameter is about 2.0 to 2.5 mm.. The three beads on the extreme right are typical examples.
To my knowledge, the only
pottery that can compare to this is the Kamares
Egg Shell Ware of Protopalatial
Crete (Middle Minoan I to Middle Minoan III, c. 1900 – 1700 B.C.). The
fineness of the ware/clay is astounding and probably
had to be worked for weeks to achieve this
consistency. How these beads were made is
still a mystery. Did it take three centuries for this technology to travel from
Crete to
Egypt, did it ever arrive in
Egypt, or did the ancient Egyptians discover the technology on their own? The answers are lost in time.
Faience micro beads are closely associated with the reigns of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten and rarely appear later. The colors are brilliant, and include “Tell el Amarna” blue, lavender, white,
red and yellow.
In ancient
Egypt,
amulets and beads were worn by the living, the dead, and the gods. From the Great Papyrus Harris we learn that Rameses III made numerous gifts, including “
Amulets for the statue of Re. I made for thee
amulets of
fine gold with inlay of real
lapis lazuli and real malachite (mafkat should have been translated as green
stone, see
Lucas, A. Ancient
Egyptian Materials and Industries, Second Edition Revised.
London: Edward Arnold, 1934: pp. 349 to 351.) I attached them to thy body in the great house of thy protection and thy magnificence in thy splendid seat, that they might protect the august limbs as perennial
amulets for thy great, grand and lovely form.” See
Breasted,
James H. Ancient Records of
Egypt.
New York: Russell & Russell,1906 (reissued 1962), Volume IV, page 143 §253. And under “The
King’s Gift’s to Ptah” he gave “Real
lapis lazuli mounted in gold and fastened with two strings of beads…” (Ibid, page 172, §343).
See ?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23706434/Ancient-Records-of-Egypt-Vol-4. Note, you “MUST” sign up to download this publication. There is nothing I must do except pay taxes and die. I did not sign up and did not download, so I do not know what is lurking there. Unfortunately, the other publications I cited are not online – I looked. I wish collectors of ancient
Egyptian scarabs had data bases the equivalent of “
Wildwinds” and
Svoronos, but such is not the case.
A cult idol of
Osiris strung with beads was recently sold by a major international
auction house. And the statue of Ibentina was found with its original bead necklace (Cairo Museum JE 63646A/B) in the tomb of Satem, 18th Dynasty, reign of Hatshepsut/Thutmoses III (see Schulz R. and Seidel, M. eds.
Egypt, The Land of the Pharaohs,
Cologne, 1998: page 260, Fig. 219.)
While these beads are remarkably strong, I doubt if they were worn by the living (too small), perhaps by the dead, or probably by the gods – to adorn cult idols.
The carnelian frog is 8 mm high; the carnelian, and
red jasper spherical beads, along with the yellow disk, and blue tubular
faience beads are much smaller.
The carnelian utchat is 9.5 mm long x 6.5 mm high; the diameters of the beads are about half the height of the utchat, perhaps a little less.
