105. Pectoral of Ramessu II
106. Earrings of Ramessu XII
107. Gold statuette (XXVth dynasty)
In the VIIIth century B.C. gold working was well maintained, as seen ([fig. 107]) in the statuette made by the local king Pafaabast. The modelling of the limbs is exact, the pose is free, and it shows the maintenance of a good tradition. About a century later there is fine cloison work on the gold birds of the Hawara amulets, as minute as any of earlier times.
A free use of gold-work comes in with the wealth of the Ptolemaic age, especially for bracelets and chains. A usual type of bracelet, in gold or silver, was with busts of Serapis and Isis on the two ends of a strip, which were turned up at right angles to the circle. These are generally of coarse work. Plain bangles, bracelets with the two tails of a bar twisted each round the other, coiled wire bracelets which were elastic, and hingeing bracelets, are all found in use at this age. Much Greek influence is seen in the patterns, both now and in the Roman period. The bangle bracelets were often made hollow, both for lightness and economy of metal. Cheaper styles were of thin gold foil worked over a core of plaster; the decoration of cross lines on such shows that they are probably Roman. The chains of Ptolemaic and Roman age ([fig. 109]) are simple, but of pleasing style.
In Coptic times bracelets of various forms were made, mostly of silver and baser metal; but they are all plain and tasteless. Large earrings were made with a big hoop and a bunch of small pendants, or an open-work metal bead. Necklets of silver were usual, with the tails of the strip wound round each other, so as to slide open for passing over the head.
Gold was also used largely for gilding both metals and wood. The gold leaf was often about a 5000th of an inch thick, weighing one grain to the square inch. Thus a pound’s weight of gold would cover about six feet square; and the gilding of doors and of the caps of obelisks as described is not at all unlikely.
Silver was known to the Egyptians later than gold, as it is called “white gold”; and it was scarcer than gold in the early ages. Of the prehistoric time there is a cap of a jar, and a small spoon with twisted handle. A few silver amulets are known in the XIIth dynasty. In the XVIIIth dynasty silver became commoner, as the source in northern Syria which supplied the Hittites became accessible. The silver dishes of this age are rather thick, and not finely beaten. One bowl, probably of Ramesside date from Bubastis, has the brim turned inward like a modern anti-splash basin ([fig. 115]). It seems to have been made by spinning the metal, as thin vessels are now wrought.
JEWELLERY