A Necklace of four strands of beads and amulets

Middle Kingdom

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 105

This brightly colored set of necklaces belonging to a young girl are remarkable not only for their technically brilliant manufacture, the drilled stone beads being quite tiny.

Mayet was only five when she was buried among the older female members of the King Mentuhotep II’s court in his funerary complex at Deir el Bahri. Although her burial was simple, her necklaces, including two others of gold and carnelian ball beads, are some of the finest jewelry that survives from this period and the signs of wear on the beads indicate Mayet, or perhaps another woman, wore them during their lifetime.

A Necklace of four strands of beads and amulets, Turquoise, amethyst, carnelian, Egyptian blue, faience, silver, plant resin

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.