Model collar of Hapiankhtifi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Elaborate broad collars were worn by the Egyptian elite for a variety of festival and religious occasions. These could be floral, made from actual plant material (see 09.184.214), or crafted from individual elements of faience, metal, or semi-precious stone (see 08.200.30). This model collar of wood, gilded and engraved with representations of small beads in rows, echoing an actual example, was found on the chest of Hapiankhtifi's mummy. A string would have been passed through the holes in the two ends and tied around the mummy's neck. Unlike a real collar, this is inflexible, emphasizing its character as a funerary model.

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