String of ball beads, cowrie-styled beads, and a scarab

String of ball beads, cowrie-styled beads, and a scarab

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This group of beads was found in a heap west of the pyramid of Amenemhat I, apparently thrown there by plunderers. The scarab that has been strung in the center dates to mid to late Dynasty 13 and has been assigned to a workshop at the Delta site of Tell el-Dab'a (see Headband with Heads of Gazelles). It is inscribed with the letters p, t, and h, and with a papyrus plant, but this does not spell a name. The other elements on this string are ball beads and beads in the shape of cowrie shells.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

String of ball beads, cowrie-styled beads, and a scarabString of ball beads, cowrie-styled beads, and a scarabString of ball beads, cowrie-styled beads, and a scarabString of ball beads, cowrie-styled beads, and a scarabString of ball beads, cowrie-styled beads, and a 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.