Poppy-Bead Necklace

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A large group of New Kingdom bead types are based on flowers or their buds. These elements are found in single strands of beads as well as broad collars, although flowers as components of broad collars seem to be most common after Hatshepsust's time. Two of the most popular floral beads depict the buds of poppies and of cornflowers. Both were staples of the Egyptian garden and were used to fashion fresh bouquets for shrines and floral broad collars. Because the buds of these flowers have a similar shape, it is sometimes difficult to be sure which one is represented.

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