Ancient Egyptian Jewellery
The earliest evidence of jewellery making in ancient Egypt dates to 4000 BC. Today, ancient Egyptian jewellery has gifted us with some of the rarest and most sublime examples of ancient craftsmanship discovered to date.
Both men and women in ancient Egypt proved themselves to be great admirers of jewellery. They adorned themselves with a profusion of trinkets in their everyday lives and in their burials. Jewellery indicated status and wealth while offering protection against evil and curses. This protection was extended to the dead as well as the living and was believed to usher in prosperity during the present and the afterlife.
Facts About Ancient Egyptian Jewellery
- The earliest evidence of ancient Egyptian dates to 4000 BC
- Ancient Egyptian jewellery is considered to be some of the most breathtaking designs in the ancient world
- Both men and women wore jewellery in ancient Egypt
- They wore a profusion of trinkets in their everyday lives and in their burials
- Jewellery indicated status and wealth and offered protection against evil and curses
- Protection was extended to the dead as well as the living
- Jewellery was thought to usher in prosperity during life and the afterlife
- The most popular semi-precious stone in ancient Egypt was Lapis lazuli, which was imported from Afghanistan
- Thanks to symbolising rebirth and its supposed magical power the scarab beetle is the most common animal, featured on Egyptian jewellery but rarely appears in its natural black
- Babies were frequently given protective pendants to ward off evil spirits because of the high infant mortality rate
- Gold symbolised the flesh of the gods in ancient Egyptian jewellery.
Putting The Personal Into Adornment
Perhaps the moment in time that later came to define the emergence of Egyptian jewellery design and craftsmanship was their discovery of gold. Gold mines enabled Egyptians to accumulate vast quantities of the precious metal, which formed the backdrop for the creation of Egypt’s exquisitely intricate jewellery designs.
The ancient Egyptians were passionate in their love of personal adornment. Hence, jewellery adorned both women and men of all social classes. Egyptian statues of their gods and pharaohs were embellished with lavish jewel decorations. Similarly, the dead were entombed with their jewellery to aid them on their journey into the afterlife.
Their personal adornment was not limited to rings and necklaces. Anklets, armbands, elaborate bracelets, amulets, diadems, pectorals and collar pieces; pendants, necklaces, delicate earrings and a profusion of rings were a customary feature of Egyptian dress. Even in their burials, the poorest would still be interred wearing rings, a simple bracelet or a string of beads.
Golden jewellery quickly became entrenched as a status symbol in Egypt’s Pre-Dynastic period. Gold came to symbolise power, religion and social status. It became a focus for families of the nobility, and royals as a means of differentiating them from the general populace. Gold’s status generated a huge demand for elaborate items of jewellery.
Masters Of Their Craft
Regrettably, much of the ancient Egyptian techniques for cutting and polishing their precious and semi-precious gemstones are now lost to us, but the enduring quality of their creations are still with us today.
While the ancient Egyptians enjoyed access to a dizzying range of precious gemstones, they often opted to work with softer, semi-precious gems such as turquoise, carnelian, lapis lazuli, quartz, jasper and malachite. Lapis lazuli was imported from far-away Afghanistan.
One commonly used and breathtakingly expensive material was coloured glass. Exorbitantly expensive thanks to its rarity; Egyptian jewellers made creative use of coloured glass to represent exquisitely detailed feathers of their bird designs.
In addition to the gold mines and other raw materials available within Egypt’s borders, Egypt’s jewellery master craftsmen imported a host of other materials such as lapis lazuli a popular semi-precious stone featured extensively in scarab jewels.
Exquisite Egyptian jewellery emerged as a highly desirable trade item across the ancient world. Consequently, Egyptian jewellery has been discovered across the far-flung regions encompassing Rome, Greece, Persia and what is today Turkey.
Egyptian nobles exhibited a passion for jewellery representing intricately detailed scarab beetles, antelopes, winged birds, jackals, tigers and scrolls. The nobles also wore their expensive jewellery in their tombs. Thanks to the Egyptian tradition of concealing their burials in inaccessible locations, archaeologists have found large quantities of these perfectly preserved masterpieces.
