Ring with Uninscribed Scarab

Ring with Uninscribed Scarab

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gold wires are drawn through the perforation hole of a turquoise scarab, and wound about at each end of a gold ring. Swivel rings usually hold seals that could be rotated in the right direction in order to impress clay used to seal an object, much like sealing wax. Though uninscribed and thus never used as sealing device, this small turquoise scarab is set in such a finger ring; it was worn as a protective amulet or a piece of jewelry.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ring with Uninscribed ScarabRing with Uninscribed ScarabRing with Uninscribed ScarabRing with Uninscribed ScarabRing with Uninscribed Scarab

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.