Broad collar, Late Old Kingdom

Jewelry: Broad Collar. Late Old Kingdom. White and green (now brown) faience and blue frit. L 55 cm. Acquired from a New York collection in 1995 A complete broad collar restrung from an original set of beads, spacers and finials. This piece was made purely for funerary purposes as it would not have been strong enough to handle daily wear. The two spacers and the two finials in white faience hold five strands of beads; the spacers are straight bars and the finials are semi-circles. The finials have an extra hole for the attachment of a cord which is strung with thick tubular beads which were originally green. The collar strands are in white glassy faience, green (now brown) faience and blue frit. The bottom row consists of 16 collar beads in white and grey faience with twin suspension holes in the shape of stylized beetles – possibly symbols of Neith. Some repaired cracks to finials and spacers. This lot is part of a large private collection of Egyptian antiquities at auction at Lauritz