Ear Plug

Possible OriginThebes, Egypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodNew Kingdom, Dynasty 18

Date1539-1292 BCE

MediumFaience

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions1 9/16 x 1 9/16 x 11/16 in., 26 g (4 x 4 x 1.8 cm, 15/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.908

Label TextJewelry in ancient Egypt was worn for adornment and had amuletic and protective properties. The ancient Egyptian word for “necklace” is shashayt, derived from the root sha, meaning “to determine, impose fate.”

Necklaces made of blue and green faience beads imitated the semiprecious stones lapis lazuli and turquoise. These stones carried symbolic properties. Green and turquoise symbolized new life and resurrection. Lapis lazuli related to the night sky and the primordial waters. Carnelian-red evoked blood and the heat of the sun. Sometimes faience beads were interspersed with amulets of protective deities. The mass production of glass beads began in the New Kingdom and reappeared in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.

Women in the New Kingdom wore earplug earrings decorated with rosettes. The front has a central rosette within a circle and radiating raised lines decorating the outer ring. The backside has a design of a thirteen-petal rosette. A grooved edge between the front and the back anchored the plug into the earlobe piercing.
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 6.

ProvenanceEx coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

Status

Not on view

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