Sweret Bead on Gold Wire

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The "sweret" bead, when first used in the Middle Kingdom, was worn on a string around the neck (see 11.150.15b). Found in the New Kingdom burial of an Egyptian queen, this bead may have been intended to continue in the old practice. In later times, such beads seem to have been strung on wire and slipped around the mummy's arm.

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