AN EGYPTIAN GOLD AND CARNELIAN SCARAB SWIVEL RING NEW KINGDOM, 19TH-20TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1279

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AN EGYPTIAN GOLD AND CARNELIAN SCARAB SWIVEL RING, NEW KINGDOM, 19TH-20TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1279 B.C. Of swivel type, the plain gold hoop tapering to slender terminals that pass through the long axis of a rectangular carnelian bezel, each terminal capped by a small gold bead and secured by a tight coil of gold wire forming a ribbed collar at either side of the stone. The bezel is set within a thin gold bezel-frame that follows the contour of the plaque. The carnelian itself is of deep red tone, the surface smoothly worked and the carving in low relief. The face of the bezel is engraved with a wedjat, the Eye of Horus, oriented to the right. The almond of the eye is given with a defined upper lid and rounded cornea, beneath which descend the characteristic vertical teardrop marking and the long curving spiral of the cheek line. Above the eye runs the arched brow, finely hatched along its length, with a second hatched register following the curve of the upper lid. The composition fills the rectangular field without crowding, the cutting confident and the interior detailing crisp. The wedjat is among the most enduring of Egyptian protective signs, identified with the eye torn from Horus in his contest with Seth and subsequently restored, and so understood as a symbol of healing, wholeness and the recovery of what has been lost. Worn on the body in life and placed on the body in burial, the eye functioned as an amulet of bodily integrity and of divine protection, and its appearance on a finger ring transforms an item of personal adornment into an apotropaic device carried at all times by its wearer. Carnelian was the preferred stone for this function: the red tone was associated with vitality, with the protective blood of Isis, and with the solar disc, and the material was understood within Egyptian colour symbolism to ward off harm. The swivel ring, in which a pierced bezel revolves on a wire shank between two coiled stops, is a form developed in the Middle Kingdom and brought to refinement during the New Kingdom, when scarabs and rectangular plaques in hardstone, faience and glass were mounted as both jewellery and functional seals. The ribbed gold collars seen here, formed by close-wound wire against a beaded terminal, are a characteristic feature of fine New Kingdom goldsmithing, indicating workshop production of high standard rather than a provincial copy. Gold itself was the flesh of the gods in Egyptian thought, incorruptible and solar, and its pairing with carnelian on a wedjat bezel concentrates three of the most potent protective associations available to the Egyptian jeweller within a single object. This ring exemplifies the New Kingdom convergence of seal, amulet and ornament in a single piece of fine personal jewellery, where the goldsmith's technical idiom and the lapidary's iconographic vocabulary are brought together to produce an object that protected its wearer as much as it adorned them. The clarity of the wedjat cutting and the integrity of the original gold mount place it among the more accomplished surviving examples of the type. Length of Stone: 1.8cm A note for the cataloguer: the supplied title gives the date as "circa 1279" without further qualification. I have published this as "circa 1279 B.C." on the assumption that the intended reference is to the accession of Ramesses II at the opening of the 19th Dynasty. Please confirm, or supply a corrected date range, before publication. The title also describes the bezel as a "scarab," but the photograph shows a rectangular plaque engraved with a wedjat rather than a beetle. I have catalogued it accordingly. Please confirm whether the reverse of the bezel carries a scarab, in which case the title is correct and a second descriptive paragraph should be added for that face.

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