5. Signet-Rings.
Signet-rings.
The signet-ring was called in Egyptian
zebat (var.
, pl.
Coptic
:
). In its earliest form it consisted of (a) a perforated bezel, the part that bears the inscription or device, and (b) a hoop or wire which runs through the bezel and round the inside of the finger. The bezel was generally a separate piece of stone or metal, and when that was the case, it was generally encircled by a metal band (funda) and pierced so that it formed a swivel ring.
Fig. 107.
Their history.
The earliest examples that we know of are not older than the middle of the Twelfth Dynasty, but from that period onwards they are fairly common in Egypt. A number were found by M. de Morgan, at Dahshûr, of the date of Usertsen III to Amenemhat III, and these are all of one type: a scarab threaded on a piece of gold wire, the ends of which are twisted round several times on the back of the hoop (fig. [107]). At a somewhat later period we find the gold wire thickened in the middle to lend additional strength, and the two ends thrust into the perforation of the scarab. The specimen illustrated (fig. [108]) dates from the Thirteenth Dynasty. A second type of this period is shown in fig. [109]. Here the scarab is mounted in a gold funda and the perforation is threaded by a wire, the ends of which are wound tightly round the hoop, which is made of a separate piece of metal. The same form survives during the Hyksos period (see Pl. I, ring of King Apepŷ), and on to the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (fig. [110], and the ring of Hor-em-heb, Pl. I). With the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty another form appears, that of a plain metal ring with the outer surface of the bezel flat and the inner curved (fig. [111]). This form was rare during the earlier reigns of the dynasty, but common under Amenhetep III and Akhenaten (see ring of Akhenaten, Pl. I), and it survives to the present day. At the time of Thothmes III, a ring consisting of a plain hoop beaten out into a lozenge shaped plate occurs (Pl. XXIX, 31), but it is a very rare form until after the Twentieth Dynasty. With the reign of Amenhetep III, pottery rings of all forms are found, and these are very common till the beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
Figs. 108 and 109.
Fig. 110. RING OF THOTHMES III and 111.
Figs. 112 and 113.
Figs. 114 and 115.
Pottery rings, with long bezels, as shown in figs. 112 and 113, appear first at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty, and continue on till the end of the Twenty-third. The examples of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty are of several forms, the commonest being the plain hoop beaten out into a rectangular or lozenge-shaped plate which bears the inscription. Other forms give the outer surface of the bezel flat and the inner curved, as in figs. 114 and 115: the one being a ring of a priest of Khufu, named Nefer-ab-ra; the other that of a priest of Tahuti, named Hor-se-ast. A rarer form is that illustrated in fig. [116], where the flat engraved plate is welded on to a plain hoop.
Fig. 116.
DESCRIPTIONS
OF THE
SPECIMENS FIGURED IN THE PLATES.