Broad Collar of Wah

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This broad collar is one of the finest examples of its type from the early Middle Kingdom. It was carefully designed using beads of diminishing lengths to create the curved form. Although a few areas needed reinforcing with modern thread, the stringing is almost entirely original. The collar is part of a set of funerary jewelry belonging to Wah, the estate manager of Meketre. Wah's broad collar, anklets, and bracelets were made as funerary ornaments for the burial and were found in the layers of linen wrapping that were closest to the body; the collar had been tied around the neck, the bracelets and anklets had been laid over the lower arms and legs. They are all made of a ceramic material called Egyptian faience. Beaded jewelry sets of this type are illustrated in the object friezes that decorate many Middle Kingdom coffins, and fragmentary examples have been found in numerous tombs of the period.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art