Scarab Necklace of Lady Meux

MediumGlazed stone

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions26 3/4 in. (68 cm)

Object number2018.010.245

Label TextThis scarab necklace once belonged to Lady Valerie Meux (1852–1910), the flamboyant wife of Sir Henry Meux, the 3rd Baronet of Theobald’s Park, Herefordshire, UK. A great collector of antiquities, Lady Meux amassed 1700 artifacts, including 800 scarabs and amulets. Her collection was published by E. A. Wallis Budge when he was the assistant keeper at the British Museum in 1893. A great beauty, Lady Meux was painted three times by James Whistler.

The necklace comprises thirty-one incised scarabs, ranging in date from the Second Intermediate to Late Period. Ten scarabs are inscribed for King Thutmose III; two belong to the ruler Menkheper(re) (Ini); one is incised for King Merneptah, one names the “servant of Khonsu,” and others depict divinities or designs. Three scarabs have fake designs.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed. Life and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 16.

ProvenanceSaid to be ex coll. Valerie Susan, Lady Meux (1852-1910), London, England. Purchased by Georges Ricard (1921-2012) from Jean François Mignon, Aix-en Provence, France, November 18, 1972. Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1975-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

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