Jewelry in ancient Egypt was known for its beauty and fine craftsmanship. Gold was the most important component, revered not for its worth but for its luminous yellow color and easy malleability. Colors possessed underlying symbolism in Egyptian culture and religion, and were selected in jewelry making for their spiritual connotation. Semi-precious stones, such as lapis lazuli and feldspar, were preferred over more valuable jewels because of their meaningful coloring. Man-made imitations, such as glass or colored glazes, also became popular as jewelry makers enhanced their craft in manipulating sand, powdered quartz, and alkali. Some of the most pleasing effects were created with these man-made materials, and the use of glass and glaze became a defining characteristic in Egyptian jewelry. Funerary rituals were also of fundamental concern. The ancient Egyptians were known for burying their dead in a wealth of adornment, with guidelines for these pieces prescribed in the Book of the Dead. However, jewelry made expressly for burials was often cheap or flimsy and made without means of fastening or a counterpoise. For these reasons, I propose that the appearance and/or symbolism within a piece of jewelry was more important to the ancient Egyptians than its economic worth. Retaining value in meaning rather than cost is rare in the evolution of indigenous cultures, and naturally the wealth of Egyptian pharaohs was fashioned from the most expensive materials. Nevertheless, I argue that it was not necessary for a piece of jewelry to be of high economic worth, for it was worn by people of every social and economic class, and therefore, needed to remain spiritually symbolic despite the value of the materials being utilized. This is in direct contradiction to the indigenous tribes of Hawaii and their relationship with feathered cloaks. There, the exclusivity of rare materials has surpassed the need to uphold traditional coloring. With the Egyptians, as long as the jewelry was beautiful and preserved the meaning for which it was created, it did not matter whether it was made of glass or jewels.

     In the ancient Egyptian religion, eternal life was only granted to those who had a proper tomb and funeral. Jewelry was considered essential in the afterlife journey, and was buried along with the dead. Most Egyptians prepared for death by collecting as much protective jewelry as possible to be buried with them ("Egyptian Jewelry and Gems," par. 1). The designs and materials of burial jewelry were dictated in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. This type of jewelry was mostly amuletic, although some everyday ornamental pieces were also taken to the grave. Jewelry prepared specifically for burials was often made with poor materials and lacked fastenings as well as counterpoises. Cyril Aldred addresses this topic in her book, stating, “Such funerary charms are often of a flimsy construction, consisting of thin layers of metal foil upon a plaster filling and having cheap substitutes for hard stone inlays or beads” (11). The reason for this decrease in quality is obvious: to spare cost on jewelry that would not be “called upon to suffer the abrasive wear of everyday life (Aldred 11). Examples of such craftsmanship can be seen in three broad collars found on the body of Senebtisi in her tomb, which Carol Andrews formally analyzes in her publication. One is of copper and incised with gold leaf on its beads, pendants, and semicircular terminals; while the others are composed of mainly plaster, with gold leaf or glazed composition decorating the beads and pendants. None of the three have any means of suspension or a counterpoise, and “this, and the use of gold leaf, shows that all three were purely funerary in function” (Andrews 197). Despite these pieces’ inability to withstand the wear and tear of everyday life, the ancient Egyptians still found them appropriate with which to adorn their dead. This validates the fact that they were less concerned with the quality of the jewelry and more concerned with its symbolic presence in the tomb. Burial jewelry did not need to be of high quality or expensive materials, for it was enough to simply have the idea behind each piece be represented.

Bibliography

Aldred, Cyril. Jewels of the Pharoahs. London, England: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1978.

Andrews, Carol. Ancient Egyptian Jewellery. London, England: British Museum Publications, 1990.