Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Pectoral and Fly-Shaped Beads
Middle Kingdom
Not on view
This object is not part of The Met collection. It was in the Museum for a special exhibition and has been returned to the lender.
Soldiers seem to have worn oyster shells inscribed with royal cartouches around the neck. This one is inscribed for Senwosret I. The fly-shaped beads, now on a modern string, were likely found together with the shell. The tenacious nature of flies led them to be associated with military achievement, and these may have been given to a soldier as a reward or used as protective amulets.
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