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An Egyptian gold necklace with gold oyster shell pendant image 1
An Egyptian gold necklace with gold oyster shell pendant image 2
Various Properties
Lot 107

An Egyptian gold necklace with gold oyster shell pendant

Antiquities
1 December 2020, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £3,187.50 inc. premium

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An Egyptian gold necklace with gold oyster shell pendant
Middle Kingdom, circa 2025-1700 B.C.
The circular wire necklace with loop and hook fastening, the sheet gold oyster shell shaped pendant with punched repoussé phallic decoration, 8.5cm diam.

Footnotes

Provenance:
A Private Collection of Egyptian Gold Jewellery, the Property of a Nobleman; Christie's, London, 1 June 1979, lot 52.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 26 October 1995, lot 98.
Private collection, Europe, acquired at the above sale.

It would seem, considering the circumference of the wire, that this necklace was intended to be worn by a child. The name for the oyster shell amulet is wedja, meaning healthy, and such amulets were thought to endow the wearer with this property. Oyster shell amulets were popular in the Middle Kingdom; for an electrum example, see C. Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt, London, 1994, fig. 43d, and for a discussion by the author of the significance of oyster shell amulets, ibid p.43.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

An Anatolian marble idol
A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin
A small Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone inscribed for King Sin-Kashid of Uruk
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A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
A Roman marble torso of a youth wearing a tunic
A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg
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