Beads - chrysanthemums and mandrake fruits
1391 BCE-1186 BCE
Medium
faience
Measurements
2.0 × 32.7 × 0.3 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1939
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts - Great Hall Costume Corridor
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
These beads of chrysanthemums and mandrake fruits probably had fertility or regenerative symbolism associated with them. They’re made of faience which was a ceramic-like material that was fired and glazed in a range of bright colours.It first occurred in the Predynastic Periodand was produced throughout pharaonic history, a period of some 3000 years.The Egyptians called it tjehenet which meant brilliant or dazzling, probably inreference to the bright blue glaze on many objects. The colour was probably intended to imitate the semi-precious stones ofturquoise or lapis lazuli. Many other glaze colours were produced including green, black, brown, white and yellow. Polychrome, or multi-coloured, pieces, like these beads, were particularly popular during the New Kingdom.